Certainly, “No Asylum” is particularly relevant today with the world facing its worst refugee crisis ever. But survivors viewing the film come away with a more personal message. “They come away feeling that the intolerance depicted is happening again,” says Fouce. With the rise of anti-Semitism badly disguised as anti-Israel measures, it’s impossible not to ask the question: Will the world look away again?
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What Motivated Paula Fouce? Paula Fouce’s love of moviemaking goes back to her childhood. Descended from Spanish immigrants who landed in Hawaii in the late 1800s, Fouce’s grandfather, Frank Louis Fouce Sr., owned movie and live theaters in downtown Los Angeles that featured Mexican vaudeville acts and Spanish-language films. In 1961, Fouce’s grandfather and father founded the Spanish International Communication Corp., the forerunner of Univision, the first Spanish-language television network. “One of the best parts of the hours spent hanging out at the theaters were the candy guns that my brother and I would use to shoot candy into our mouths,” says Fouce with a laugh. Listening to her spontaneous laughter, I conclude that it’s her ability to grab the detail that conveys the moment that makes her documentaries stand out.
In 1984, Fouce was trapped in the riots in India following Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination by Sikhs. Gandhi, a Hindu, had ordered an attack on the Sikhs’ holiest place of worship. Retribution followed on both sides, with thousands killed. “The time I’d spent with the Hindus had been idyllic. Now I was experiencing the opposite. Surrounded by violence, I was almost killed,” says Fouce. This contrast became the impetus for Fouce’s quest to understand intolerance and hatred. Her quest led to the production of two documentaries on the yogis of India and, more recently, the book Not in God’s Name, in which she tries to make sense of religious conflict.
“No Asylum,” which documents the tragic consequences of intolerance and racism, was the next step in Fouce’s fight against prejudice.
Behind the Scenes What you see: With the cost of the footage for such a documentary sometimes reaching $130 a second, Fouce is particularly grateful to the following individuals and institutions: Leslie Schwartz and Dean Robinson, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yad Vashem, Las Vegas Holocaust Research Center and Anne Frank Fonds, among others.
What you hear: Having grown up in Europe, where he was exposed to Holocaust education, Italian composer Luciano Storti was particularly excited about scoring the film. His original compositions which accompany the visual tension and horror on the screen turn the viewing into a heart-wrenching hour.