
Behind the Scenes of "Remember This"
Clip: Season 50 Episode 10 | 2m 1sVideo has Closed Captions
Listen to the creative team explain how they adapted the play for the screen.
Listen to actor David Strathairn and the directors of "Remember This" explain how they adapted the play for the screen.
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Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
Major series funding for GREAT PERFORMANCES is provided by The Joseph & Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Sue...

Behind the Scenes of "Remember This"
Clip: Season 50 Episode 10 | 2m 1sVideo has Closed Captions
Listen to actor David Strathairn and the directors of "Remember This" explain how they adapted the play for the screen.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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Subscribe to the Great Performances newsletter to keep up with the latest full episodes to stream, exclusive content, and more!Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipA lot have no idea who this man was.
So it is a kind of a gift to them.
Jan Karski -- he came from a different place.
It was a place of dignity and integrity.
And a place of true patriotism.
I was struck by that because it was a story of failure.
And I find stories of failure to actually be more generative than stories of success.
They teach us what we've done wrong in relationship to what's happening in the world right now.
Then descends on one point alone, a man -- medals on his chest -- light glowing around.
I felt like there was a way that we could translate it on film in a way that was, you know, going to feel like a cinematic adaptation.
The scale and vision grew from a live capture of David with maybe three cameras.
We decided, "No let's film this like a movie."
Turning the camera in a sense, into kind of the extension of an experience that we built for an audience and seeing the kind of complementary, but also different roles and opportunities.
You know, it was a very intentional choice to shoot a single camera.
So there's not a cutaway in the piece.
We have no alternate angles that we can cut to that we can work around if we find ourselves in a pinch with how we shot it or something.
So everything had to be worked out except precisely.
The camera follows David and get so close that you are just in Karski's world.
I understand my mission.
I am not supposed to have any feelings, I am a camera.
Video has Closed Captions
Explore the legacy of Jan Karski, reluctant World War II hero and Holocaust witness. (1m 15s)
Video has Closed Captions
"Remembering Jan Karski" goes behind the scenes of the remarkable film, "Remember This." (19m 52s)
Video has Closed Captions
Experience David Strathairn as reluctant Holocaust witness, Jan Karski. (30s)
Video has Closed Captions
David Strathairn as Jan Karski reenacts the invasion of Poland. (2m 54s)
A Plea to Churchill and Roosevelt During the Holocaust
Video has Closed Captions
A politician in exile writes to Churchill and Roosevelt to intervene in the Holocaust. (1m 39s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipMajor series funding for GREAT PERFORMANCES is provided by The Joseph & Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, Sue...