Branko Lustig and Ahmed Radwan
Branko Lustig and Ahmed Radwan, Two Lives, One Friendship.
When Branko Lustig and Ahmed Radwan met for the very first time in 2004, Lustig was already a world famous film producer known for such box office hits as the Oscar and Golden Globe Award winning masterpiece Schindlers List.
The atrocities that Branko Lustig experienced as a victim of Nazism in Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen could never crush his positive spirit. This was a key factor in making the movie iconic and also explains why he supported Ahmed Radwans initiatives to produce movies promoting peace, understanding and intercultural dialogue.
It was only by coincidence that Radwan, 38 years younger than Lustig, was able to present the screenplay for a movie project that he was working on to the Hollywood giant. But once Lustig had read the screenplay, he agreed to meet with Radwan and a deep friendship was born, one that would last some 15 years until Lustigs passing. There was an immediate bond between the two, not least because of the parallels between the two mens lives.
It is no wonder then that Branko Lustig became a friend and father figure to Radwan, his vast experience and helpful advice still reflecting in the work of his younger protégé today. Indeed, when Lustig was lying on his deathbed in 2019, it was Ahmed Radwan who, with the help of an Israeli friend, ensured that a rabbi was with his Hollywood mentor on the night that he passed away.
In honor of his dear departed friend Branko Lustig, Ahmed Radwan is determined to carry on the mutual support of intercultural and interreligious dialogue. With the goal of unity and peace in the world.