Israel celebrates Oscar wins

March 1, 2011 by David · 2 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, Entertainment, General, Movies, Pop Culture, Social Justice

Students at the Bialik-Rogozin School in Tel Aviv.

Even though Israel didn’t have a film nominated in the Best Foreign Film category at this week’s Academy Awards in Los Angeles for the first time in a few years, our tiny country still made its presence felt at the Oscars.

Of course, Jerusalem’s native daughter Natalie Portman walked away with the Best Actress award for her role in Black Swan. Portman, who was born here in 1981 and returned to study at Hebrew University in 2004, was congratulated by Culture Minister Limor Livnat, who said that Portman “brought pride to Israel.”

And while, not as high-profile as that award, but no less satisfying, was the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short going to US filmmakers Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon for Strangers No More, about the children of foreign workers and refugees at Tel Aviv’s Bialik-Rogozin school.

Goodman told The Jerusalem Post she hopes that following the Oscar win, “the spotlight will shine on the school and the world will see it as an example of hope and tolerance.”

The 40-minute film tells the story of the school’s educators, in particular principal Keren Tal and teacher Smadar Moeres, and shows the day-to-day lives of three students; Johannes from Ethiopia, Esther from South Africa, and Mohammed from Darfur. The film was shot over the course of a school year and depicts the turmoil and heartbreak faced by the children en route to Israel, and how the school has become a sort of safe haven for them in Israel.

Located in south Tel Aviv, Bialik-Rogozin teaches more than 800 students from 48 countries around the world, all of them learning in classes taught in Hebrew, which serves as a sort of unifier for the children from scattered backgrounds. While the issue isn’t covered in the movie, the school has become very famous in Israel over the past year, because 120 of its students face possible deportation in the wake of a cabinet decision last July. Bialik-Rogozin’s 120 students are among the around 400 students nationwide who are slated to be deported.

The school put that aside on Monday morning, hosting a celebration for teachers, students, and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. Following his visit to the school Monday, Huldai issued a statement on Monday praising the film, saying “in a world of cynicism, alienation, and hatred, this movie proves in the most direct and convincing way that there is the chance for a better world.”

And President Shimon Peres called filmmaker Tal to tell her that Strangers No More had cast a beam of light on Israel’s humanity.

Not bad for a night on the red carpet.

Share with others