Mike Wolanin | The Republic Actor Noah Emmerich, right, and actor Imogen Hall return to their marks while shooting a scene for “The Ice Cream Man” movie in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, March 15, 2023. The production team needed a location that looked like a vintage 1940s ice cream parlor for the movie. The movie focuses on the story of German-Jewish refugee Ersnt Cahn who co-owned an ice cream shop in Amsterdam with Alfred Kohn during the Second World War. The ice cream shop was raided in 1941 by the Nazi SS and Cahn and Kohn were taken prisoner. Cahn was executed and Kohn died in Auschwitz in 1945.
A film crew shooting a movie about the Holocaust will be back in Columbus next week.
The Columbus Board of Public Works on Wednesday approved a special use of right of way request so crews could shoot additional footage for the short film, titled “The Ice Cream Man.” The request, submitted by Driver Productions LLC, will start Monday, April 15 at 6 a.m. and will end Wednesday, April 17 at the same time.
The production company requested a closure of the sidewalk and parking spaces along both sides of Washington Street, from the south side of the Fourth and Washington streets intersection, going south to the alley.
“The Ice Cream Man,” starring Noah Emmerich (“The Americans,” “The Walking Dead,” “The Truman Show”), is based on the true story of Ernst Cahn, a popular Jewish owner of an ice cream parlor in Amsterdam.
In 1941, he was targeted by SS Lt. Klaus Barbie, the infamous “Butcher of Lyon.” Cahn’s actions sparked a series of events that led to what became known as The February Strike, the first and largest anti-Nazi protest during World War II. It unfolded when over 300,000 Dutch workers shut down the city for three days.
The request said the crew will be shooting “a few pickup scenes” and will “predominantly be shooting inside Zaharakos with a green screen placed outside the main, large window.” It adds the crew will shoot “one or two exterior shots that will have us out in the road and alley next to the building.”
During the planning phases, director and writer Robert Moniot had been looking for a period place with a design and decor that could pass for an authentic 1940s business before discovering Zaharakos.
Moniot reached out to the ice cream parlor’s late owner Tony Moravec, who agreed to donate $50,000 for the film’s budget and shut down the shop for a week in March of 2023 for filming.
More information can be found at theicecreamman.movie.
