Villa Aurora is a dramatic cocktail of fact and fiction inspired by the history of the artists’ residence of the same name in Pacific Palisades, California, which became a haven for many of Germany’s greatest artists and intellectuals, including Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht, who were forced to flee Nazi oppression in their homeland prior to World War II.

 

A five episode miniseries, Villa Aurora navigates historical events and some of the remarkable and ignoble individuals who influenced the political, cultural and artistic scenes of Berlin, New York and Los Angeles in the late 1930s and early 40s.

Exploring the tragedy provoked by Nazism and the continual emotional suffering of so many of the survivor families of the Holocaust. the miniseries draws on the cultural and artistic richness of the history of the villa and its occupants and famous guests in order to interweave the story of a young dancer who resides in the villa in 2000, and the tragic story of another dancer, a German-Jewish ballerina, that spans the second world war, taking the viewer from pre-war Berlin to America of the early 40s, and to the present day. 

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In development

In co-production with Rock 'n Read Productions (US).

Writer: Tamar Simon Hoffs & John Hörnschemeyer

Director: Tamar Simon Hoffs

Co-Producer: Carolyn Pfeiffer Bradshaw

Attached Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Deborah Kara Unger, Elizabeth Rodriguez