A professor’s award-winning 2006 film is receiving a new honor — it’s being shown in the Library of Congress.
The powerful documentary “Howling With the Angels” explores the truth about Jan Bodon, a young, blond-haired, blue-eyed captain in the Czechoslovakian Army in World Word II who was recruited to join the Nazis after Hitler’s army marched into Prague in March 1939.

Jean Bodon's award-winning documentary “Howling With the Angels” explores the truth about Bodon’s father, who was recruited to join the Nazis after Hitler’s army marched in Prague in March 1939.

The film by his son Jean Bodon, Ph.D., a winner at the Chicago International Film Festival, will be shown at the Library of Congress at noon Wednesday, Oct. 22. The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but seating is limited. Bodon will attend the screening and answer audience questions.

Bodon, who teaches television production, cinema and broadcasting in the UAB Department of Communication Studies, spoke recently with the UAB Reporter about the film, its impact on those who have seen it and its impact on his life.

Q. What does it mean to have your film selected to be shown at the Library of Congress?
A. Aside from being the largest library in the world, it also is also one of the most recognized cultural institutions in the world. The Library of Congress describes itself as the “treasure house of the world’s knowledge.” To be a minute part of this house is indeed very flattering. I am truly very touched.

Q. What motivated you to make  this film?
A. I wanted to get to know my father, who passed away 23 years ago and who kept so many secrets. I wanted to know his secrets. This of course is the essence of documentary filmmaking: to investigate, discover and show. When you make any type of movie, you have to fall in love with the characters. Through this discovery process, my love for my father grew even more; it was like bringing him to life again. It was like having a cup of coffee with him, one more time, and it has been like this every day for two years.

Q. How difficult was it to retrace your father’s footsteps and gather the information you needed?
A. The most difficult elements were dealing with the emotions, to be a son again.  The emotions were often morbid, always nostalgic yet with a touch of happiness or love. Technically, the gathering of the information was not easy at first; I had to find people who may have known my father or had lived through similar experiences. Most of the people that I had to find were about 90 years old from an original pool of 3,000 people — an unlikely statistical possibility.

Indeed the Czech brigade that fought in WWII had only 3,000 members; many died during the war’s battle, others were executed by the Soviet system, and the survivors were getting very old. Well, I was terribly lucky because 2005 was the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII. The Queen of England had decided to honor these Czech heroes and WWII veterans in a commemoration. My wife, daughter and I took the camera to London; we were invited by the Queen to the Horsemen’s Parade, saw her and started our interviews with the veterans. About 20 of them were there. They were wonderful and pointed me in the right direction, which was Scotland, Wales, France, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia — a great journey; a journey that started for my father 70 years ago when Hitler led the 1938 Munich conference, which was the beginning of WWII.

Academically, I had to become well versed in Czechoslovakian history as well as getting visual documents on my father and Czechoslovakia during that period. I found a great researcher from my father’s hometown who found documents, people and addresses. I also was able to get very interesting war documents at Kings College in London. Most of the historical archives came from the Spielberg Film Archives in Washington, D.C.

Q. How has this movie impacted your life?
A. I am very grateful that UAB provided me with a grant to discover who I am and to be able share it with others. That is what filmmaking is about. Indeed, films are often autobiographical. Like any person, one needs to share “its own history” with others; I am sharing what my father never had a chance to share. I feel like I am giving my daughter a bit more than a photo album about her grandfather.

Q. What impact has “Howling With the Angels” had on others? 
A. That, I do not know. Making a film is like a relationship, you find the subject matter — this is like falling in love — then, you get married (shooting and editing the film), then, you give it to a distributor, and it’s like breaking up. The film is out of my hands, it is there for others to love it, hate it or ignore it. I just can’t tell how they feel: I wish I knew.

Q. What other projects are you working on? 
A. I am interested by stories about people who succeed in spite of what life throws at them. I just finished a documentary on former French premier Leon Blum, who was incarcerated in Buchenwald during WWII because he was a Jew and a socialist. Blum survived the concentration camp and upon his return again became the head of France. I also recently started shooting a documentary on Otta Benga, a pygmy who was displayed with primates at the Bronx Zoo at the turn of past century — the ultimate racist act. I find a way to stay pretty busy.

Editor’s note: Jean Bodon has worked as a feature film director and producer and a director of documentaries and television commercials. His works have been shown on HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, the Movie Channel, E!, TLC  and many other cable systems and networks throughout the world. His work also includes a book on Charlie Chaplin and “Cinema: An Introduction,” prefaced by film director Robert Wise. Bodon is a judge for the International Emmy Awards.

For more on Bodon and “Howling With the Angels,” visit www.uab.edu/Communicationstudies/bodon.htm.