los angeles | Jewish talent didn’t make the headlines at the Academy Awards but found some consolation in the less-glamorous categories.
Charlie Kaufman, the favorite, won the best original screenplay Oscar for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” After a “normal Jewish upbringing” on Long Island, Kaufman has become one of the hottest Hollywood writers for scripts that tend to blur the line between fantasy and reality.
In the documentary feature category, often dominated by Holocaust-themed entries in the past, the winner was “Born Into Brothels,” about the children of Calcutta prostitutes. Sharing the award were director Zana Briski, whose Iraqi Jewish mother now lives in Israel, reports Jewhoo.com, and her Jewish co-producer Ross Kauffman.
Tom Rosenberg briefly shared the spotlight with Clint Eastwood as one of the three producers of best picture “Million Dollar Baby.”
African American comedian Chris Rock, the evening’s host, turned down his normally edgy nightclub routine for the occasion, but pricked up some ears in a bit about “The Passion of the Christ,” when he observed that “A lot of Jewish people were offended [by the film], they were mad about it.”
But as a follow-up, Rock commented: “I can relate to that. I had to deal with a movie called ‘Soul Plane'” — a lame comedy about a one-plane airline run by blacks and panned for its black stereotypes.
Three veterans of the movie industry were honored by the appreciative audience. Sidney Lumet, director of such memorable films as “Twelve Angry Men,” “Network” and the Jewish-themed “The Pawnbroker” and “Bye Bye Braverman,” accepted a lifetime achievement award.
Veteran film and television executive Roger Mayer received the Jean Hershholt Humanitarian Award for his work on behalf of film preservation and the motion picture retirement home.
British film veteran David Samuelson appeared via video to accept a technical award for his invention of a revolutionary camera-mounting device.
Jewish hopes for an acting award rode on the best supporting actress category. Among the five finalists were Natalie Portman for Closer and Sophie Okonedo for “Hotel Rwanda.” Portman, born in Jerusalem and fluent in English and Hebrew, has just completed a semester at the Hebrew University, and is now filming “Free Zone” with Israeli director Amos Gitai.
Okonedo, a well-known British actress, is the daughter of a Jewish mother and a Nigerian father.