We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Beth Lane a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Beth, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
My mom and her six siblings survived the Holocaust together. I am grateful some of their hard won resiliency is in my bones; but as an actress, filmmaker, and activist I have been tested by rejection and redirection over and over within my own lifetime. What keeps pushing me forward is this undying belief that storytelling and helping others will reveal more light in our world. Ultimately, getting really clear on my mission has helped me navigate challenges regardless of the medium or project.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
am an actor by trade and became a filmmaker after a life changing trip to Germany with my Mom and sister. After that experience, I knew I had to make a documentary and uncover the story of my Mother and her six siblings who, against all odds, survived the Holocaust together. I was completing my masters at UCLA and started knocking on every documentary and film production professors’ doors, hungry to gain any skills and insight into making a feature film. Creating UnBroken took me on a journey I could not have predicted, some of that is uncovered in the film itself, but this six-year process has been so expansive not only personally but I certainly never thought I would be having my World Premiere the day after the most horrific act of bloodshed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. I have been a lifelong activist and many years of diverse experiences have resulted in a non-profit organization I established in 2023 named, The Weber Family Arts Foundation. WFAF was founded with the purpose of combating antisemitism and hate by driving awareness, engagement, and activism through the arts. Across a variety of creative mediums, we support artists in developing and producing meaningful work that inspires critical thought, compassion, and empathy. Crucially, The Weber Family Arts Foundation supports art that focuses on stories of hope, selflessness, and true humanity. As a young non-profit, UnBroken is our first project, of which, one hundred percent of our profit from the sale of the documentary feature will be used as seed money for other artists and projects. As a member of the Second Generation (2G) of Holocaust survivors, I know from lived and inherited experience that it is imperative upon those of us alive, thanks to humanitarian efforts of upstanders, to speak out against hate speech, fascism, and the normalization of antisemitism.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Imagination, spirituality and perseverance. And in that order! I think in so many ways, our society has lost touch with the joys of tapping into our imaginations. We doom scroll, read the news non-stop, binge watch tv series and so forth. But do we ever just sit and do nothing, without a device in our hands? Without our earpods in our ears? What about just sitting, walking, hiking, doing the dishes, and allowing our imaginations to run free? Can we allow ourselves to get bored just long enough so that we tap into our soul’s consciousness? Or do we have to distract ourselves with content, posts, eating or shopping? I believe that exploring our imaginations is critical to our mental health individually and collectively. So for me, when I promote spirituality as a quality tht has impacted my journey, it has nothing to do with religion. For me spirituality is taking that breath or moment to acknowledge just how very unique my footprint is on this universe, all in the effort of acknowledging how very unique your footprint is also. If we can step inside someone else’s shoes, we have the chance to connect on a very deep and spiritual way – on a soul level. We are seeing a lack of spirituality playing out right now with the Hamas attack on Israel. Israels living in horrific fear – a second Holocaust against the Jewish people. Palestinians, in the West Bank and Gaza, experiencing overwhelming destruction, death and war. This moment in history is unprecedented and it must be stopped. I never thought I would be debuting UnBroken during this moment in history and I am grateful that my dogged persistence, perseverance and downright attention to detail and repetition has allowed me to complete the film and deliver it to the festival. Never underestimate the power of showing up for yourself because in the end, aren’t we really showing up for each other? Intern for a film company, volunteer for an NGO, give blood, donate $1 a month to your favorite causes. Whatever you do , show up and you will see the fruits of your labor helping yourself and those around you.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
In our final phases of launching UnBroken, we are building a marketing campaign that is engaging and altruistic. All of which takes time and money, and fundraising always presents a unique set of challenges, no matter how experienced or connected you are.
One thing that has helped unite our donors and community, as well as continues to give me reassurance, is our core value that every action matters. Every single action can make an impact and improve our world for the better which is the heart of our message.
Right now, it’s simply one seat at a time to sell out theaters for screenings and drive engagement with The Weber Family Arts Foundation, a non-profit I established in the state of California to combat antisemitism, bigotry and hatred through awareness, engagement, and activism through the arts. Although our mission is combating the longest hatred, we are a young foundation with a lot of energy to inspire hope and bolster stories of resiliency and triumph of the human spirit. Looking back on history and what UnBroken reveals is that we need light to get through dark times. I look forward to this Giving Tuesday this year and the cross-cultural conversations we are having in light of our global hate crisis.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bethlane.com/new-would-you-hide-me
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethlanefilm/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebethlane/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethlane1/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bethlanefilm
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-mSujkwcnqOdUzpGNq8KbQ
Image Credits
Chad Batka
