Oscar for SA-produced doccie
Taxi to the Dark Side, one of the films made for the South African co-ordinated, global documentary project Why Democracy?, won the Documentary Feature award at the 80th Annual Academy Awards held in Los Angeles on Sunday night, 24 February 2008.
South African producer and filmmaker, Don Edkins, was the executive producer of the film. Edkins also produced and coordinated the Why Democracy? project for Steps International from its Cape Town offices.
Commented Edkins, “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.”
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.
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)
Please Vote For Me' by Weijun Chen, another Why Democracy? film was also shortlisted for the coveted Oscar.
