Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center

The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center pushes the boundaries of storytelling using different media technologies so that Survivors’ journeys can inspire the next generation to build a brighter future. The museum has commissioned Winikur Productions for multiple projects, including virtual reality immersive experiences, permanent exhibit films and PBS documentary series.

Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center

The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center pushes the boundaries of storytelling using different media technologies so that Survivors’ journeys can inspire the next generation to build a brighter future. The museum has commissioned Winikur Productions for multiple projects, including virtual reality immersive experiences, permanent exhibit films and PBS documentary series.

“Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.”

Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor

The Journey Back

The Journey Back is a virtual reality immersive experience featuring the stories of Fritzie Fritzshall in “A Promise Kept” and George Brent in “Don’t Forget Me.” Both films use photogrammetry, animation, ambisonic audio as well as 360 video, and were filmed in Chicago, Poland and the Ukraine. A Promise Kept premiered at SXSW in 2020 and both experiences have been featured in film festivals around the world.


Challenges

Combine traditional video with 3D photogrammetric models in a 360 degree space

Integrate technical elements from multiple sources into a cohesive narrative

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Survivor Stories Experience


As the first permanent interactive hologram exhibit, Survivor Stories Experience features language processing software for holograms of Holocaust survivors to conversationally respond to visitors’ questions.


To facilitate in-depth conversation, the museum commissioned Winikur Productions to create 10 introductory videos layered over two screens to create a 3D parallax effect.


The Abe & Ida Survivor Stories Experience received the Jim Blackaby Memorial and Gold MUSE Awards from the American Alliance of Museums in 2018.

Stories of Survival

Stories of Survival is a two-episode, documentary series about four Holocaust survivors’ experiences in Nazi concentration camps.

Each film combines on-location footage of the camps with archival imagery and interviews from the survivors.


Stories of Survival was offered nationally on American Public Television and has since been broadcast on PBS stations across the country.

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EXHIBIT DESIGN       Gallagher & Associates (G&A)