PETER GETZELS is an Emmy Award-winning producer, director and cinematographer of feature documentaries around the world. He is also co-creator and director of the high-end PBS series Closer to Truth, now in its 17th season. Once a professional mountaineer working in the Himalayas and South America, Peter was trained in Anthropology before turning to film, working with his partner, Harriet. For National Geographic, BBC, PBS, Discovery and Channel 4 UK  he has made over 120 hours of television including a range of feature documentaries, winning top awards in around the world.

HARRIET GORDON GETZELS, together with Peter, has a long track record of producing, directing and writing award-winning films made for British, American and European television. Their subjects range from character-driven narratives to cutting edge science, and the fringes of religion. Her digital narratives and production of websites for foundations take on subjects from the environment to brain science to addiction. Based in Oxford, England with Peter for sixteen years and now in Washington DC, Harriet is co-owner of Getzels Gordon Productions. She also writes narrative non-fiction.

CATHERINE SHIELDS, whose work has garnered two Academy Awards and four prime-time Emmy's, has edited documentaries for PBS, National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and many independent filmmakers. Working with Getzels Gordon Productions, she edited Harvest of Empire, about immigration from South America to the North.  Among many awards, Harvest won the distinguished ABC News Archive Award for outstanding use of historical material. Cathy spent many years editing short films for the annual Kennedy Center Honors about legendary performers such as Yo Yo Ma, David Letterman and Meryl Streep. 

TONY MILLER BSC (photograph at top) is a UK-based Director of Photography who has been awarded an Emmy, a BSC Award, an RTS and BAFTA nominations for his work in drama and documentary. Tony's grandparents adopted children who came to Britain from Czechosolovakia during the war. An accomplished pianist, Tony has a deep understanding of Bach which he plays in his spare time.

FRANK VOGL, Executive Producer, proposed the idea for the story with an emphasis on both the music and the universal implications of anti-Semitism and oppression of artists under the Nazis and Czech Communists. Frank is a cousin of Zuzana’s, and the Treasurer of the Viktor Kalabis and Zuzana Ruzickova Foundation. A former journalist and World Bank senior official, Frank is an author and lecturer, and the co-founder of Transparency International, the global anti-corruption organization.

EMILY VOGL, Executive Producer, has been engaged on the film’s fund-raising, press relations, content development and as principal liaison with Zuzana. She serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Viktor Kalabis and Zuzana Ruzickova Foundation, which promotes the music of Zuzana and her late composer husband Viktor. Emily is a linguist and Managing Director of Vogl Communications.

ALES BREZINA is a Special Advisor to the film and is head of the Bohuslav Martinu Institute in Prague. Martinu is perhaps the greatest Czech composer of the 20th century. Mr. Brezina also writes music for feature films and is the composer of a number of operas based on seminal moments in Czech history. 

MAHAN ESFAHANI, Special Advisor, has studied with Zuzana Ruzickova and works tirelessly to establish the harpsichord in the mainstream. An Iranian-American, Mahan was BBC New Generation Artist from 2008-10, a Borletti-Buitoni Trust prize-winner, and was shortlisted both for Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year and Gramophone Artist of the Year – all firsts for harpsichord. He has recorded for Hyperion Records and is an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon. Mahan currently lives in Prague. 

ROBERT NEUFELD, Emmy-Nominated Composer, was trained at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He specializes in orchestral scores for ethnographic, natural history and historical documentaries. He has scored films for broadcasters including National Geographic, PBS, BBC and Discovery Channel.

JAKUB CECH, Sound Recordist, Production Mixer & Sound Editor for Soundsquare in Prague, has over 20 years experience in feature films and documentaries for European and American theatres and television. 

MICHAEL MACHULDA, second from right was Camera Assistant to Tony Miller BSC, and jumped in to our production as if our team had been working together for many years. 

TOMAS ROTNAGL, Czech Producer is owner of K Film in Prague, and provided all production services, personnel and post production oversight covering a span of three years. 

KELLI SERENA, Line Producer and Production Manager has over 20 years of experience supervising a wide range of platforms including multi-million dollar projects. She worked across all the networks at Discovery Communications for 8 years.

ILONA KLENIKOVA, Translator Extraordinaire, worked on Czech to English throughout the filming of interviews during production.

PATRICK FOUST,  Online Editor and Assistant Editor, worked for Getzels Gordon Productions for five years before returning to Graduate School to do a Master's in Media and Politics at Georgetown University. He is seeing this film through completion in his spare time. 

CHRISTINE RYAN, Associate Producer, coordinated the shoots, script review, archive, and graphic needs.

Executive Producers FRANK AND EMILY VOGL would like to thank the following people for their generous support of the film:

The Viktor Kalabis & Zuzana Ruzickova Foundation (USA)

William R. Rhodes, Executive Producer,  in memory of Louise Tilzer Rhodes

Leila Straus, Virginia  E. Newmyer, Louis Smith and Chris Mudd, Emily and Antoine van Agtmael, Sachi Liebergesell, Marc and Megara Vogl, Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines, Diane and Norman Bernstein, Bonnie Simon, and

Susan Beckerman, Julia Vogl, Peter and Stephanie Vogl, James and Nikki Vogl, Michael and Marion Usher, Owen and Barbara Katzman, Jane A. Silverman, Alex and Pat Shakow, Michael and Catherine Farrell, Jack and Carol Feder, Anonymous

Getzels Gordon Productions in co-production with Czech Television