Israeli directors nab Hot Docs awards
Yael Hersonski's A Film Unfinished named Best International Feature, while Tomer Haymann's I Shot My Love wins Best Mid-Length Documentary
The 2010 Hot Docs closed its 11-day festival with an Awards Presentation on May 7. Israeli directors Yael Hersonski and Tomer Haymann took home a couple of the biggest accolades of the night.
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America's largest documentary film festival, conference and market, held annually in Toronto.
Hersonski won the top honor of the event, the Best International Feature Award, for A Film Unfinished. The awards jury statement states, “Yael Hersonski’s film is a profound exploration of the testimonial value of the cinematic image, based on found footage of a Nazi propaganda film shot in a Warsaw Ghetto. This is a film for the ages.” She was awarded $10,000.
Haymann’s film, I Shot My Love, was presented with the Best Mid-Length Documentary Award. The documentary delves into the love story a German and an Israeli. The jury said the film "contains beautiful use of homemade footage," adding that it covers many territories – geographical, religious, political, linguistic – while following a love story conceived at the Berlin Film Festival. The film focuses on the meaning of love and the universality of suffering.” Haymann won $3,000.
Films such as The Oath (The Special Jury Prize - International Feature), In the Name of the Family (Best Canadian Feature Award) and Leave Them Laughing (The Special Jury Prize - Canadian Feature) also took home honors.
Reprinted with permission from Shalom Life
