AND THE OSCAR WENT TO A FILM ABOUT AN ISRAELI SCHOOL TWO COLUMNS
“Strangers No More,” documentary about Israeli school, wins Academy Award
A documentary film about an Israeli school for children from all over the world won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject at last night’s Academy Awards.
The short film, produced and directed by Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon, tells the stories of students at the Bialik-Rogozin school in Tel Aviv. The students have lived through war, famine, and genocide. Two of the children portrayed in the film witnessed the death of a parent before arriving in Israel. At the school, they learn to come to terms with their pasts and look forward to happy and productive lives.
In a backstage interview after winning the award, Kirk Simon told Daniel Haim, “I would just add that so often people here in the United States when you think of Israel you immediately think of conflict or possible war or one of the most dangerous places in the world and we’re proud to present something that’s an inside view, something that’s really very, very special, warm and compassionate, and a part of Israel which is really helping the kids of the school and kids of all religions from 48 countries, all skin colors and it’s a place of divine multiculturalism.”
However, some of the children who attend the school do not have permanent legal status in Israel, and face the possibility of deportation. The school is hoping that the publicity the Oscar has brought will help persuade Israeli authorities to allow them to remain in Israel permanently, Yedioth Ahronoth reported today.
The school has 800 children from 48 countries who are all taught in Hebrew. Many of them are the children of foreign workers and asylum-seekers.
“For my friends the best prize will be to stay in Israel and not be deported back to Africa,” one of the students told Yedioth Ahronoth after hearing about the Oscar.
One of Bialik-Rogozin’s supporters is the Tel Aviv Foundation, which is currently raising funds to build a new gymnasium for the school.
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Documentary on Tel Aviv school, ‘Strangers No More,’ wins Oscar
The movie tells the tale of the children from 48 different countries who attend the Bialik-Rogozin School, many of whom have escaped genocide, war and hunger to arrive in Israel.
By Haaretz Service
The documentary film, Strangers No More, about a Tel Aviv elementary school, won an Oscar on Monday for Best Documentary Short Subject.
Strangers No More tells the tale of children from 48 different countries who attend the Bialik-Rogozin School in south Tel Aviv. Many of the students have escaped genocide, war and hunger to arrive in Israel at a school where “no child is a stranger.”
The documentary focuses on a number of students as they acclimatize to their new lives and attempt to put the hardships and horrors of the past behind them.
According to the film’s official site, “Together, the bond between teacher and student, and amongst the students themselves, enables them to create new lives in this exceptional community.”
The film was directed and produced by Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon, whose Simon and Goodman Picture Company has received four Oscar nominations and three Emmy awards.
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