Hearst Networks EMEA today announced a co-production with Sky for a new 1x90-minute documentary, The Tattooist’s Son: Journey to Auschwitz, as part of their partnership. The film will air on Sky HISTORY in January 2025 and is being produced by award-winning Synchronicity Films, the production company behind the critically acclaimed Sky Original drama series The Tattooist of Auschwitz and is filmed and directed by award-winning director Stephen Bennett.
Filmed in Melbourne, Slovakia, and Poland, this poignant and intimate one-off documentary will follow Gary Sokolov, the only son of Gita and Lali Sokolov (one of the real-life tattooists of Auschwitz). Their incredible love story began when they met and fell in love as Slovakian Jewish prisoners at Auschwitz Concentration Camp, where the Nazi regime systematically murdered over a million Jews. The film will chart Gary’s first visit to this most notorious German death camp.
This is a trip that Lali had always wanted to make before his death in October 2006 and one that Gary dearly wishes he had made with his father while he was still alive. Only now, after seeing the success of the drama series and the book that brought his parents’ story to a global audience, does Gary feel ready to undertake this journey.
As the world prepares to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Gary has embarked on what he describes as the trip “of his lifetime”.
The Tattooist’s Son: Journey to Auschwitz will see Gary enter the camp through the infamous Arbeit Macht Frei gatehouse, from where he will begin to explore the horrors confronted by his parents.
Among others in the documentary, Gary will meet with Heather Morris, author of the international best-selling novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz; actors Jonah Hauer-King and Anna Próchniak, who portrayed his parents in the Sky Original drama; as well as Holocaust trauma psychiatrist George Halasz and 100-year-old Holocaust and Auschwitz survivor, Abram Goldberg, in his effort to understand the impact of Intergenerational Holocaust Trauma.
The film was commissioned for Sky HISTORY by Dan Korn, VP of Programming, Hearst Networks EMEA and Hayley Reynolds, Acting Director of Documentaries and Factual at Sky. Kathryn Taylor is the Commissioning Editor for Sky. Additional funding was provided by The National Lottery through Screen Scotland.
The Tattooist’s Son: Journey to Auschwitz marks Synchronicity Films’ first foray into high-end feature documentary. Claire Mundell, Founder and Creative Director of Synchronicity Films, will executive produce and produce The Tattooist's Son: Journey to Auschwitz, which is filmed and directed by award-winning director Stephen Bennett. The production team includes shooting AP Martin Campbell; line producer, Priya Bhakta; researcher Irina Glinski and Scott Watkins, production coordinator.
Dan Korn at Hearst Networks EMEA said: “As the last survivors of the most terrible event in human history depart this life, it is down to the next generation and those like Gary to take this difficult journey and bear witness so that such incomprehensible violence and bloodshed can never happen again.”
Claire Mundell, Executive Producer at Synchronicity Films, added: “Having brought Lali and Gita’s incredible love story to the screen in The Tattooist of Auschwitz, it is a privilege for us to walk with Gary on this emotional and personal pilgrimage for his parents. By sharing his story, we hope to give audiences an insight into the burden of intergenerational trauma and encourage empathy for the children of survivors coping with their parents’ painful legacies in order that neither they nor we ever forget.”
Hayley Reynolds, Acting Director of Documentaries and Factual at Sky, commented: "We are honoured to commission this poignant documentary that will follow Gary Sokolov as he embarks on this deeply personal journey. Building on the success of our critically acclaimed Sky Original drama, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, we hope this documentary will further engage audiences in a meaningful dialogue about the Holocaust."
Featuring footage of the real Lali Sokolov, clips from the drama series featuring the actors Jonah Hauer -King (Young Lali) and Anna Próchniak (Young Gita), archive footage, and compelling interviews, the documentary promises to be an emotional journey like no other.