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From Book Club to Battlefield: The Birth of ZenLily Films
A single story can spark a dream and change a life. For ZenLily Films founder Stephanie Manesis, one tale of compassion on the WWII battlefield planted a seed that would grow into a full-scale documentary project. What began as early exposure, a deep interest, and chance encounters, morphed into a film that inspires peace and bridges nations even in the darkest moments of war.
I had the pleasure of getting to hear directly from Stephanie about how her project got its start, and you can feel the passion just from her story.
Seeds of Compassion: A Childhood Shaped by War and Wonder
Stephanie’s connection to the concept of war, peace, and reconciliation began in childhood. At just four years old, she watched her father serve as a Navy physician at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in California. That early exposure to service life sparked an intense curiosity, not just about the war, but also about the deeper questions of why wars happen and why enemies are driven to kill each other.
Even as a child, Stephanie was searching for peace in a world shaped by violence. By second grade, her growing awareness of conflict and suffering led her to write a paper asking for an end to the Vietnam War by Christmas of that year.
By the age of 11, Stephanie had moved to over 7 different cities. Having understood well what it was like to be an outsider and teased by classmates at each new school, she learned to be compassionate to people of all walks of life. This desire to promote compassion combined with her interest in war became a significant factor in Stephanie’s life, shaping her mental landscape and influencing some of her future passions.
As Stephanie grew older, her early curiosity became a more focused passion. She began learning more about WWII through high school and college courses and dove into the subject in a deeper way with her graduate studies in French Studies at New York University (NYU).
Additionally, Stephanie developed friendships with many fellow students of Jewish heritage at NYU. Stories of WWII and the Holocaust became of particular interest at NYU. Later, in the 1990s, the seeds of a future documentary began to take root.
A Stranger’s Story, A Filmmaker’s Calling
One of the foundational moments that led to the making of the ZenLily Films’ documentary came unexpectedly, not from an archive or classroom, but from a story shared at a book club.
During one evening, a book club friend of Stephanie’s recounted a story relayed to her by a German foreign exchange student. That student told a story that was passed down from his father, a WWII soldier. His father was severely wounded on the battlefield and left to die…
His father lay bleeding on the ground, staring at the sky, certain it would be his last moment on this earth. Suddenly, a face appeared above him: his enemy, an American soldier. To his astonishment, the American didn’t kill him, but instead dragged him across the battlefield toward the German lines, so that he would be found by his fellow soldiers.
After a few months of recovery, the German soldier survived, but something in him changed. He now faced a severe moral dilemma, no longer wanting to fight the enemy. He, however, was forced to go back and fight otherwise he would have been shot and killed by the German military.
Decades later, he told his son to go to America and see for himself “what wonderful people Americans are.” That son did just that and lived with Stephanie’s friend as a foreign exchange student, eventually sharing that story.
This unique moment of compassion defied much of what Stephanie understood about war, and created a memory that has stuck with Stephanie for decades, inspiring her to continue to share this story and discover more of its kind.
Finding Grace in War: Bringing Hidden Stories to Light
From that day on, Stephanie began pursuing veteran stories from WWII. Stephanie originally considered compiling 15 stories of compassion between enemies on the WWII battlefield into a book; however, finding these stories was like “finding a needle in a haystack.”
Stephanie had forgotten about the book in the midst of her many creative endeavors until one of her friends inquired about her progress. It was at that moment that she realized, if she was going to make a book with the stories of WWII veterans, she better do it fast while the veterans were still alive. But it was another friend’s insight that changed everything.
After a dear friend’s daughter said “Stephanie, I really see you making a film,” Stephanie was caught off guard. With no formal film experience, Stephanie wasn’t quite sure about moving forward with this idea. After much deep thought and conversations with God, she decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to create a documentary.
From that day on, Stephanie began pursuing veteran stories from WWII. Each conversation became a rare window into the past, and every once in a blue moon a story of compassion between enemies would shine through.
Today, Stephanie is working to capture that history and share it through her documentary Marked by Grace: Compassion Prevails on the WWII Battlefield. This film will feature four unique, true stories of enemy soldiers who chose compassion over violence on the battlefield.
Along with these unforgettable stories is a message that the world needs now more than ever: that even in the midst of war’s cruelty and carnage, compassion prevails! What began as the sharing of a German foreign exchange student’s story about his father has spawned into a project that hopes to share those glimpses of humanity with everyone.
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