On a summer evening in 2003, a retired American businessman named Michael Hartogs listened to a fateful answering machine message: "My name is Leon Schipper, and I am the one who saved you."

So begins SAVING MAX, an extraordinary documentary that traces the astonishing journey of Max Kohn - a three-year-old toddler scheduled for transport to Auschwitz from a Belgian transit camp in October 1942, saved by the extraordinary courage of a teenage boy. Blending the sunny, vibrant present-day lives of Michael’s children and grandchildren in California and Virginia with the dark historical realities of the Holocaust, the film explores the profound, intergenerational echoes of survival, identity, and the heavy legacy of childhood trauma.

More than a historical retrospective, SAVING MAX bridges the past and present with urgent contemporary resonance. With our daily feeds being increasingly consumed with global division and rising hatred and with WW2 eyewitnesses rapidly disappearing, this film offers a deeply human perspective without political distraction. By pairing Michael's resilient spirit - highlighted by warm FaceTime banter with fellow survivor Henri Wolfe and a moving surprise connection with Belgian school children reading The Forgotten Children - this documentary delivers a timeless message: that changing the future begins with remembering the past, and that every child ultimately deserves safety, love, and happiness.

Linking a toddler's rescue in 1942 to today’s global reality -where war, division, and the plight of millions of displaced children dominate the news - SAVING MAX transforms historical memory into an urgent universal message. It is a compelling pitch for audiences everywhere: a moving reminder that across all cultures and borders, protecting the innocent and standing against hatred remain our most vital shared responsibilities.