TORONTO, October 20, 2008 – A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman has won the Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary Program for Peter Raymont and Best Original Music Score for a Documentary Program or Series for composer Mark Korven. White Pine Pictures accepted the awards at tonight’s News, Sports and Documentary Gala at the 23rd Annual Gemini Awards. White Pine Pictures was nominated in 3 categories for director Peter Raymont’s feature documentary, based on Ariel Dorfman’s memoir of his life in Chile before the coup.
The Gemini Awards are a celebration of excellence of this year’s most prominent productions in Canada’s English-language television.
Internationally acclaimed author, poet and playwright, Ariel Dorfman wrote from Durham, North Carolina:
“I received the news of the Gemini Awards with great joy because they recognize a film that so deeply embodies the friendship and collaboration between Canada and Chile. It is heartening in a world so full of hatred and divisions for our film to tell a story of pain and redemption and how we can journey beyond the violence and terror inflicted on us.”
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.
“All of us at White Pine Pictures are honoured by these Geminis, said producer/director Peter Raymont “This recognition from the Academy could not come at a more significant moment in American history. It helps us participate in the crucial discussion in the United States and elsewhere, exploring the implications and experiences of the two September 11ths in the USA and Chile. It reminds us to consider how a community can deal with extreme violence in a way that does not lead to further violence.” Raymont adds “We hope that A Promise to the Dead will bring these issues to an increasing number of spectators across Canada and around the world.”
These Gemini awards mark the 7th and 8th awards for the film, which has already received high acclaim as one of the TIFF Top Ten in 2007, as well as the Silver Chris Award for Social Issues from The Chris Awards 2008, the Golden Deer Award at Ecofilms 2008 in Rhodes Greece, the 2007 Human Rights Award from the Association of Independent Journalists of Cuba, an Insight Award from National Association of Film and Digital Media Artists, and the 2008 APES Award for Expression of Excellence to Art and Culture in Chile. A Promise to the Dead was shortlisted for an Academy Award in 2007.
Media Inquiries:
White Pine Pictures
Davida Gragor
Head of Marketing and Communications
416-703-5580 x 36
davida [Email: davida #AT# whitepinepictures.com ]
