PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Berlin: May 1, 1945. It’s the day Ilse-Margret Vogel has been waiting for, the day the Axis powers fall to the Allies and World War II ends. But for Ilse, a resistance fighter and political activist who has risked her life for a decade rescuing Jews and other refugees from Nazi fascism, the end brings only a tribulation more profound than any she’s yet endured… Based on a true story as told in Ilse-Margret Vogel’s 1992 memoir, Bad Times, Good Friends, Axis is a harrowing tale of physical endurance and psychological survival – and a bold statement of the dominion of human spirit over even the greatest adversity. Written and directed by award-winning documentarian Laura Bialis, the project is being made in fulfillment of the degree requirements for Laura’s Master of Fine Arts Degree in Film Production at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television. This ambitious project, to be shot in 35mm anamorphic in late August, will team some of the most talented students at USC with some of the brightest young professionals in the film industry to bring to the screen Ilse’s astounding story of strength, compassion and dignity.