Israeli peace film nominated for AFI award
A DOCUMENTARY that follows a unique peace initiative between Israeli and Palestinian sportsmen has been nominated for an Australian Film Industry award.
LEXI LANDSMAN
A DOCUMENTARY that follows a unique peace initiative between Israeli and Palestinian sportsmen has been nominated for an Australian Film Industry (AFI) Award for best documentary under one hour.
Tackling Peace, written and produced by Jewish filmmaker Marc Radomsky, was announced as one of only four in the category, alongside other nominees announced for the 2009 Samsung Mobile AFI Awards.
“This nomination feels really great, especially because it was so difficult to get industry people to recognise the value and importance of Tackling Peace as a documentary in the first place,” Radomsky told The AJN.
“After the enormous struggle I had to get the film funded and made, it’s amazing to have it recognised and acknowledged now by the AFIs -— the premier Australian film awards.”
The film follows the Peres Peace Team, a team of players from different ends of the political and cultural spectrum, brought together in a peace initiative to play Australian Rules football in the AFL International Cup, which took place in Victoria last August.
Meanwhile, Jewish producer Anna Kaplan was nominated twice for her work with Community Prophets in two categories -— for best short film for Burn, which followed over 30 young adults from six different ethnic backgrounds in inner city and western Sydney as they trained in acting and performance; and for best documentary series for Voices from the Cape, which tells the story of a traumatised Indigenous community in remote Australia.
“We work in partnership with the marginalised communities who feature in our programs and we run youth training and development as a core part of our productions,” Kaplan told The AJN.
“To receive [two] AFI Award nominations in the same year is a wonderful endorsement of our approach to creating a diverse range of screen content.”
Also making the cut, Jewish producer Melanie Coombs was nominated for Mary and Max, a claymation tale of a pen-friendship between a 44-year-old Jewish man with Asperger’s Syndrome and a lonely eight-year-old girl.
Founded in 1958, AFI is Australia’s foremost screen culture organisation. The annual AFI Awards, held in December, recognise excellence and success in both the film and television industries.
comments