Exiles in Paradise spans the lives of Europe’s composers and artists who fled to Los Angeles from the rise of the Nazi party, the war, the Holocaust, their exile and influence in Hollywood to the final chapter of those emigres who were brought to trial in America during the McCarthy Era.

Part documentary film, part performance piece and part recital, the music and lives of this explosive period in history are brought to life with historical footage, original 16mm films by Lewis Klar, film collages by Richard Baim, rare home movies and studio clips and the songs of Ralph Benatsky, Hanns Eisler, Friedrich Hollander, Walter Jurmann, Emmerich Kalman, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Arnold Schoenberg, Kurt Weill and Eric Zeisl.

“Constance Hauman, a lustrous coloratura soprano of wide-ranging tastes and versatility, made headlines on music pages all over Europe as the waif/sex-goddess in Alban Berg’s Lulu. Her gleaming soprano can be heard on a live recording on the Chandos label; but meanwhile her performance piece Exiles in Paradise, backed up by research worthy of a Ph.D. is tossed off with the pizzaz of a diva. And damned if Ms. Hauman doesn’t lead with ‘Falling in Love Again’ caressing Friedrich Hollander’s tune with a sensuality of phrase and brilliance of tone that owes not a lick to Marlene.” — The Wall Street Journal