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SA produced doccie wins Oscar
25/02/2008 13:05 - (SA)
Taxi on the Dark Side, one of the films made for the South African coordinated, global documentary project Why Democracy?, has won the Documentary Feature award at the 80th Annual Academy Awards held on Sunday night in Los Angeles.
South African producer and film maker, Don Edkins, was the Executive Producer of the film.
Edkins also produced and coordinated the Why Democracy? project for Steps International from their Cape Town offices.
Director Alex Gibney's film tells the story of an Afghan taxi driver tortured to death by the American government as part of its "War on Terror" and was one of 10 films in the Why Democracy? documentary project.
'Very tough political issue'
Please Vote For Me by Weijun Chen, another Why Democracy? film was also shortlisted for the coveted Oscar.
Edkins as Executive Producer on Taxi to the Dark Side, and Producer of Please Vote For Me says, "This is a great honour for the film. I am very pleased that Taxi to the Dark Side won because it deals with a very tough political issue.
"By awarding the film an Oscar, the Academy has showed it is not scared of films which expose the undemocratic practices of the American Government."
This is the second Academy Award nomination for Alex Gibney.
He was previously nominated in the Documentary Feature category for Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005).
- News24
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South Africa
