TORONTO, August 27, 2008 – White Pine Pictures announced that its documentary film A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman was nominated for three Gemini Awards. The Gemini Awards are the highest honor given to Canadian English-language television and are the equivalent of the Emmy Awards in the United States.
The film, based on Ariel Dorfman’s memoirs of his life following the 1973 Chilean coup, earned a Best Direction nomination for director Peter Raymont, as well as a nomination for the original music score, composed by Mark Korven. A Promise to the Dead was also nominated for the Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary Program.
White Pine Pictures garnered 13 nominations in all, and producer/director Peter Raymont said, “All of us at White Pine Pictures are honoured by these 13 Gemini nominations. This achievement reflects the collective contribution of so many talented and dedicated people at White Pine and the belief and trust of our broadcasters and funding partners.”
A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman is an exploration of exile, memory, longing and democracy through the words and memories of playwright/author/activist, Ariel Dorfman. Produced in association with BRAVO! (a division of CTVglobemedia Inc), the documentary was filmed in the USA, Argentina and Chile in late 2006 coinciding with the death of former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet.
The film has previously made the shortlist of documentaries considered for nomination by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and garnered Ariel Dorfman an Insight Award for Excellence in Writing-Documentary from the National Association of Film and Digital Media Artists.
Dorfman hold the Walter Hines Page Chair at Duke University.
