Genre
Synopsis
Based on true events, WARINGA HILL is about family and identity, survival against all odds, and the pursuit of dreams. In 1882, anti-Semitic violence forces Zeldah Goldin and her husband Lev to flee their small Jewish village in Lithuania with their two small children. Instead of joining the massive flow of Jewish immigration to America, Lev, ambitious and eager to experience the larger world, gambles on rumors of fortunes to be made in Colonial Singapore, where he heard the British treat Jews fairly. Zeldah is faced with how to raise her family Jewish in a foreign city where everyone is a stranger, and no one speaks Yiddish.
Zeldah and Lev launch successful enterprises and the Goldins achieve a meteoric rise into a life of wealth and privilege, obtaining the largest rubber and coconut estate on the island, where they bring up six children attended by a full staff of servants. Zeldah is heartbroken as each generation increasingly chooses to assimilate into the giddy heights of British high society and rush headlong into the freedoms of modern, cosmopolitan life
The personal family drama in Waringa Hill unfolds on a vivid historical canvas. The dynamic array of experiences ranges from the adventures of a beautiful debutante making a splash at the Raffles Hotel, to the daring bravery of an RAF pilot evacuating civilians under enemy fire and feature notable figures such as the Prince of Wales, Albert Einstein, and Lord Louis Mountbatten.
Bio
Lisa Ginsburg is an accomplished film director, writer, and editor, whose work pushes the envelope, challenges societal prejudice, as well as delights and entertains. Her early work, “Override,” a narrative music video, along with other award-winning dramatic shorts, became audience favorites in queer film festivals globally. Jamie Babbitt, acclaimed director of "But I’m a Cheerleader”, awarded Lisa the highly competitive inaugural PowerUP! Grant to direct a dramatic short starring Ione Skye and Scout Taylor-Compton. In addition to Lisa’s directing work, she is also an insightful editor, crafting layered, emotionally impactful narratives with exceptional music and sound design. Her editing of Dee Mosbacher's “Radical Harmonies”, a documentary which chronicles the Women's Music Cultural Movement, won Audience Favorite and Best Soundtrack awards. Ginsburg is also a published author. Her cover story for Asian Jewish Life, “Worlds Apart in Singapore,” became a viral online sensation in Singapore and is featured in multiple news broadcasts and heritage exhibits. Einstein’s well-documented and photographed visit with Ginsburg’s family was included in the Einstein Paper Project’s publication of Einstein’s travel diaries. Lisa is currently in development on a dramatic television series, "Waringa Hill”, based upon the saga of her family’s emigration from Eastern Europe to Colonial Singapore. Lisa Ginsburg is committed to promoting diversity and inclusivity in the film industry.
