LOCALadk Magazine

Meet Paul Frederick Videographer. Producer. Editor. Documentarian. Business owner. Adirondack Film Festival Board Mem- ber. Father. Husband. Son. Dog-owner. And now, Emmy winner. These are the roles Paul Frederick of West Chazy, NY holds in his life. But through these roles is an individ- ual who holds a deep love and appreciation for telling stories on the screen. After declaring himself as a mass media major upon entering his junior year at SUNY Plattsburgh, Freder- ick's career would take on a life of its own. An internship with PBS in Plattsburgh would even- tually become a hired position, allowing Frederick to learn every part of the industry over his eleven years with the company, including film shooting, audio, lighting, studio production, directing, and live directing for television. But his favorite experiences involved field work. "I loved shooting in the field, coming back with ma- terial, and telling the story," he said. Frederick would eventually part ways with PBS to start Paul Frederick Productions where he created an impressive collection of work, ranging from nature shorts to commercials to his favorite genre, historical documentaries. Many of Frederick's documentaries tell the lesser-known stories of the Adirondack region. One such documentary was a 90 -minute film, Heart's Delight: The Story of William H. Miner, Frederick's longest work to date, outlining Miner's immeasurable contributions to the North Country before his death in 1930. As fate would have it, Heart's Delight would be seen by an individual with a story to tell; she just needed the right person to tell it. After seeing the documentary, Julie Canepa knew she had found her story-teller in Frederick. A friendship is made; an idea is born Part of being a documentarian is being approached by individuals who believe they have a story to be told. "Often, they do," said Frederick. "Usually it comes down to time and funding; I have to see if I have the time to do it, and I have to see if the funding is there for the project." Canepa presented an idea to Frederick with a unique challenge involving time: she had a friend, Vladimir Munk, who was a Holocaust survivor, and his story needed to be told. The problem? Munk was 94 years old. While funding for proj- ects often comes with time, Canepa and Frederick realized that any conversations with Munk needed to happen sooner than later. Conversations involving funding could wait. Frederick and Munk met in February 2019, and the friendship was instantaneous. "You just fall in love with the guy as soon as you meet him," Frederick said. After a two-hour interview, he knew Munk's story needed to be told, and the search for sponsors commenced. In November of that same year, Frederick received a call from Canepa: Munk had received a letter asking him to return to Auschwitz for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp. "That completely changed the project," Frederick said. "It's a historical documen- tary, yes, but it's also us going back to that space. It's bridging history and modern day." Every survivor was allowed to bring one person with them, so Canepa was going with Munk as his guest in order to write a book about Munk and his wife, Kitty. The question was whether or not Frederick would be in attendance as well. With less than a month to decide, the timeline did not allow Frederick to secure the funding he needed for travel, access and rights to archived footage, resources, and time. With a call to his friend and associate, Bruce Carlin, to join on the trip, the decision was made, the tickets were booked, credit cards were maxed out, and Frederick and Carlin found themselves on a plane to Poland. "This place stays with you." On the night of the 75th anniversary, survivors returning to Auschwitz were honored at a ceremo- ny, seated together in front of the entrance to Aus- chwitz— where an estimated 1.1 million people were murdered, approximately 1 million of those victims being Jews — in solidarity of the atrocities they had experienced and the resilience of the human spirit. The following day, survivors and their guests were given four hours on the grounds of Auschwitz. "When you shoot something like this, it's an incred- Paul Frederick and Bruce Carlin film Julie Canepa and Vladimir Munk walking the grounds of Auchwitz.

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