Page One

Oakland filmmakers nominated for Oscar

Bay City News
Tuesday February 20, 2001

OAKLAND — Two Oakland filmmakers are once more in the running for Oscars in the Feature Documentary category. 

Both filmmakers live in Oakland, and their production company, Iris Films, is based in Berkeley. 

“Long Night's Journey Into Day,” by Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffmann, looks at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, which tried to bring together the victims and perpetrators of crimes during apartheid. 

The movie profiles the cases of Amy Biehl, an American Fullbright scholar killed in South Africa; the police murders of anti-apartheid activists, including those known as the Cradock Four; and the bombing of a Durban bar. 

The story is put together from many points of view, including those of victims, their oppressors, journalists and commissioners, and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. 

“The personal toll that apartheid has taken on individuals on both sides of these amnesty hearings is quite extraordinary,” Hoffmann said. This is the second nomination for Reid and Hoffman, who each received 1994 Oscar nods for films they directed separately – Reid for “Straight from the Heart,” and Hoffman for “Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter.” 

“Long Night's Journey Into Day” received the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival and the Peace Film Prize at the Berlin Film Festival.