Scandal star Tony Goldwyn and The Good Wife star Julianna Margulies will narrate Above the Drowning Sea, a documentary about the Jewish refugee experience in Shanghai during World War II.
Emmy Award–winning writer-producer René Balcer (Law & Order franchise; upcoming Law & Order: True Crime — The Menendez Murders) is behind the project, acting as writer and director. Nicola Zavaglia is also directing.
Nick Mancuso will also lend his voice to the project. The doc focuses on the segment of Jews fleeing the Holocaust whose only escape was to Shanghai. The movie will be bookended by today’s refugee crisis and use eyewitness accounts from Jewish survivors and the Chinese who sheltered them.
According to the producers, the “echo” of current events is what drew Margulies to the project.
“All my grandparents came here as Jewish refugees to a country that greeted them with open arms,” said the actress in a statement. “When I was asked to narrate this film about refugees then and today, I immediately picked up the phone and said I’d do it. Who wouldn’t?”
Above the Drowning Sea is a co-production of Balcer’s Mattawin Company, Time and Rhythm Cinema of Canada and Shine Express of Hong Kong. It is set for a spring release.
