The highly anticipated film Schindler's List, directed by Steven Spielberg and based on a 1982 historical novel entitled Schindler's Ark by Australian writer Thomas Keneally, premiered in December of 1993. In a year that had also seen the opening of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., the film quickly became a cultural event. The public and many critics praised the harrowing but inspirational tale of individual decency in response to the horrors of genocide. The $23 million film was also a box-office success, eventually earning more than $300 million worldwide, in spite of its black-and-white photography and three-hour-plus running time—normally considered audience deterrents. Given the epic film's high public profile and cross-cultural praise, it was not surprising that Schindler's List would go on to garner seven Academy Awards in 1994, winning for best picture and giving Spielberg his first-ever best director honors from the Academy...