Toni Kalem develops Jewish refugee project ‘Other people’s homes’

Writer, director and actress Toni Kalem (“The Sopranos”) adapts Lore Segal’s internationally acclaimed 1964 semi-autobiographical novel “Other People’s Houses,” about a Jewish child refugee who finds asylum in Britain through the Kindertransport rescue effort.

The story follows a 10-year-old Jewish girl from Vienna who is sent to England as part of the 1938 children’s transport that followed Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria. She spends the next few years in a wide range of households, from wealthy families to modest working-class people, an experience that gives her a stark impression of the English class system.

For Kalem, best known for her portrayal of Angie Bonpensiero in the HBO series “The Sopranos,” adapting Segal’s book also provided an opportunity to explore her own family history.

“Like Lore Segal, my mother, a German refugee, boarded the Kindertransport as a young girl,” says Kalem Variety. “She said goodbye to her mother and lived apart from her siblings when she arrived in Britain in 1939. She spent the next few years working and living in the homes of others. Unlike Lore, she hardly spoke about her experiences.

“All I knew was that she had a happy childhood until ‘Hitler came to power’, when her world was turned upside down and she was forced to escape with a small suitcase and her mother, her house, her family, culture and language behind. and traveling to England until she finally gained passage to America. She was always grateful to have been ‘saved’, but she kept buried the trauma of what had happened to her, the end of her childhood, against the backdrop of the rise of totalitarianism and the Second World War.

“As a mother, I can’t imagine being forced to make the ultimate, unthinkable decision: sending your children away to save them. ‘Other People’s Houses’ gave me an emotional and historical context for my family history and a link to my own identity – to who I am. Like ‘Belfast’, ‘Passing’ and ‘Unorthodox’, this is the deeply personal story I’ve wanted to tell for most of my life.”

Segal’s story “has never been more relevant,” she adds. “We are living in an unprecedented refugee crisis in the world. The biggest victims are the generation of children driven from their homes by war, persecution and climate disasters – who travel unaccompanied and seek asylum in foreign lands or return to homes that no longer exist.”

Kalem spent countless hours interviewing Segal and researching her life. “Looks like Lore is my neighbor in New York City, even though I never knew it, even though I’ve been a fan of hers for years.”

She initially created “Other People’s Houses” as a limited series and has written a bible for the show and its pilot episode.

“But I also saw that it could easily turn into a function. Lore Segal is now 96 years old. And while she remains creatively prolific and as vibrant and young as anyone I know, I am aware of how fleeting time is, and I want to find the most expeditious journey to bring ‘Other People’s Houses’ to the screen – big or small .”

“I write with the idea of ​​creating a complete world, populated with great roles – not just for the leads, but for every character,” she adds. “I am interested in the details that make up a person and the arcs of their journeys, which come from my years as an actress.”

Although Kalem says she always writes “with my director hat,” she is open to “a director coming on board who has the eye, understanding and humanity to tell this historical yet deeply personal story.” Although ‘Other People’s Houses’ is set in a dark period of human history and is about the end of childhood, Lore writes with humor and irony and with the wild imagination of a born writer,” she notes.

Kalem also hopes to realize the project as an international co-production.

“I’m always shocked to see how little people in the United States know about Kindertransport, if they know about it at all. In Germany and Austria, however, I discovered that the Holocaust is an essential part of every child’s education. I notice that there is more demand for these types of series in European markets, as World War II stories tend to resonate more strongly abroad. I believe that if the country can first find a home in Europe and be combined with international talent, it may be easier to then find an American home as a secondary market.”

I now have my German citizenship and divide my time between living and working in the EU and New York City.

Kalem has spent a lot of time in Britain, Germany and Austria, conducting research and unofficial location scouting.

Last February, she attended an exhibition about Segal at the Bezirksmuseum Josefstadt in Vienna.

“I went with Lore’s family, who have become like family to me. We followed the journey that ten-year-old Lore made until December 1938, when she boarded the Kindertransport at the Wien Hauptbahnhof in the middle of the night, without knowing whether she would ever see her parents again.’

Kalem’s writing and directing credits also include the 1999 romantic drama and Sundance screener “A Slipping-Down Life,” starring Lili Taylor and Guy Pearce and based on the novel by Anne Tyler. In addition to starring in such feature films as Philip Kaufman’s cult classic “The Wanderers” and Howard Zieff’s “Private Benjamin,” she has also worked extensively in television, writing for “The Sopranos,” Showtime’s “The Big C” and other productions.