“The Ice Cream Man,” a new short starring Noah Emmerich as Ernst Cahn, a little-known hero of Jewish resistance to the Nazis, may not seem like the most obvious candidate to premiere at Indianapolis’ Indy Shorts. But it has some of the strongest Indiana ties in this year’s edition of the beloved film festival.
In fact, the most crucial scene in the film — in which husband, father and small businessman Cahn takes a stand against Nazis in his ice cream parlor — was filmed less than an hour from Indianapolis.
Writer-director Robert Moniot searched high and low for an ice cream parlor that felt like the one Cahn operated in Amsterdam after he, his wife and his two daughters fled Nazi Germany for the Netherlands.
“I couldn’t find anything in Amsterdam,” says Moniot, “and I couldn’t find anything in New York or Los Angeles either. Everything looked like a ’50s diner, or too modern. so I googled “1900 renovated ice cream parlor” and Zaharakos ice cream parlor and museum in Columbus, Indiana popped up on screen, and it was perfect.
“So I immediately cold-called the owner, And I said, ‘Hi my name is Rob, I’m writing a short film about the Holocaust, and I’m entering it into a contest that I probably won’t win, but if I do, can I come to Columbus and shoot in your ice cream parlor for free?’ and miraculously, he said yes.”
The owner, Tony Moravec, died before the production began filming. “But much like Ernst Cahn, Tony was the spark that set an unbelievable series of events into motion. He more than any other person involved is responsible for the success of this film, and I dedicated the movie to him,” says Moniot.
We talked with Moniot via email about the real life of Ernst Cahn, recruiting Emmerich (best known for his spectacular role on The Americans), and why the film feels painfully timely.
MovieMaker: How did you first learn of this story? What was the initial spark of the idea for the film and how did it evolve?
Robert Moniot: My wife is United States diplomat, so about two years ago we found out we were moving to the Netherlands for our next post. I Googled the closest beach to our new house, and saw a picture of this amazing idyllic vista with dune grass overlooking the North Sea, and then I read that this was the same spot that the Nazis executed over 500 resistance fighters during the war.
Immediately, my filmmaker brain saw a man with his hands, tied behind his back with a blindfold on in front of a firing squad, this sort of horrifically, beautiful image, and then I kept reading. And I found out that a man named Ernst Cahn, who was the Jewish owner of the most popular ice cream parlor in Amsterdam, was the first person the Nazis executed.
And then I read that it was Klaus Barbie, arguably the most sadistic Nazi during the war, that personally targeted, arrested, tortured and then executed Cahn. That was the spark. The more I read, the more I was convinced this was a story that needed to be told. and then, just by chance, the next day on Deadline Hollywood, I saw an ad from the Claims Conference contest that said, “send us your short film script about the Holocaust and we will give you $50,000 if you win.”
So I had six days to write the script before the contest deadline, and then I won… and now here we are almost two years later, at the world premiere.
MovieMaker: How did Noah Emmerich come aboard? His father’s background is in some ways strikingly similar to that of Ernst Kahn — Andre Emmerich was born in Germany and left Nazi Germany for Amsterdam, then New York.
Robert Moniot: Yeah. Noah and I have known each other for a long time and have been trying to find something to do together for forever. When I sent him the script, he called me back immediately and told me that his father and aunt had fled Germany with their parents in 1936, and moved right around the corner from Ernst’s ice cream shop in Amsterdam.
I got chills when he told me that. Noah is an amazing actor, but the work he did in this role is unlike anything I’ve ever seen him do.
MovieMaker: This is a very ambitious short — crowd scenes, planes, locations — how did you pull it off? Can you talk about the budget, and how you stretched it to make this film look so big?
Robert Moniot: Well, I just wrote what was in my head. The actual events were pretty epic in nature, and I felt strongly that for people to understand the importance of what had happened historically, that we needed to do everything we could to recreate everything faithfully. Which admittedly, was totally nuts.
No one ever makes any money from a short film; and there was no clear path to pay back any sort of investors. So we applied for fiscal sponsorship from Film Independent, which basically gave us nonprofit status, which basically gave us nonprofit status… and we started telling people the story, and asked folks to donate. And they did.
Again and again and again. It’s really unbelievable how many people, not only in Indiana, but all across the world really, gave whatever they could, sometimes small amounts and sometimes large. But I think they all did it because they believed in the message of the movie, and that they felt as I did that this was an important story.
And then my team — artists and crafts people from all over the world, Indianapolis, Amsterdam, Prague, London, Mexico City, Los Angeles — all of them working for a fraction of what they normally earn. They pushed themselves to their limits to finish the film on a post production schedule that was unbelievably short, specifically because we really really really wanted to have our world premiere here in Indy.
MovieMaker: Do you plan to expand it into a feature? What do you want to further explore?
Robert Moniot: We do have some ideas about possible next steps, but there’s a lot of moving parts, so all I can say for now is to stay tuned. But the goal for the short film has always been to give it away to schools, libraries, and museums all around the world for free. We have partnered with the Anne Frank Center to develop a curriculum that will accompany the film as we send it out, and we’re really excited about it.
MovieMaker: It sadly seems more relevant now than it did when the idea first hit me two years ago. I kind of feel like I’ve been on this ride where I wasn’t really driving the car. There’s no way this movie should exist. It was too ambitious, too expensive, too difficult to finish. But here we are.
So I do think there’s a reason everything came together the way that it has — and if I’ve done my job, hopefully the film resonates with people on some level.
Indy Shorts, celebrating its seventh year, is one of our Coolest Film Festivals and 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. It runs through Sunday.
Main image: Noah Emmerich in “The Ice Cream Man.”