Jewish talent was represented among the winners at the 91st Academy Awards Feb. 24, where “BlacKKKlansman” screenwriters Charlie Wachtel and Jeffrey Friedman shared the best adapted screenplay award with Spike Lee and Kevin Wilmott; Marc Ronson was honored for writing, “Shallow” with Lady Gaga; and Rodney Rothman and his “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” co-directors won the award for best animated feature.
Israeli filmmaker Guy Nattiv and his wife and producer Jaime Ray Newman took home their first Oscar for their racially charged live action short film “Skin.”
“I moved here five years ago from Israel and my grandparents are Holocaust survivors,” Nattiv said in his acceptance speech. “The bigotry that they experienced in the Holocaust, we see it everywhere today in America, and in Europe. This film is about education. It’s about teaching your kids a better way.”
Added Newman, “We dedicate this to our five-month-old baby who is sitting at home with my parents. I hope you grow up in a world where these things don’t happen because people learn to love and respect each other.”
The pair subsequently made a feature-length version of “Skin” starring Jamie Bell, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last fall. It will be released in theaters July 26.
