Filmstew.com
Event honors outstanding work portraying the Jewish heritage through film and television.
By Claire Runitz
The first annual Jewish Image Awards, which recognize outstanding work reflecting the Jewish heritage through film and television, were held early last week at The Beverly Hilton Hotel with honorees including Richard Schiff for The West Wing, Steven Weber for Club Land, Rachel Weisz for Enemy at the Gates, Hannah Taylor Gordon for Anne Frank and more.
Arthur Hiller was awarded the Tisch Lifetime Achievement Award for five decades in the film industry, during which he has made films like Love Story, Man of La Mancha, The Out-of-Towners, The Man in the Glass Booth, Plaza Suite, Outrageous Fortune and television greats like Naked City, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke and more. He has directed Robert Redford, George C. Scott, Julie Andrews, Sophia Loren, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Richard Pryor, Bette Midler, Dustin Hoffman, Rock Hudson, Warren Beatty and Al Pacino, among others.
The MorningStar Commission, a select group of professionals in the entertainment industry founded by Hadassah and chaired by Joan Hyler, honored entertainment attorney Patti Felker of Nelson Felker Levine & Dern with their “Woman of Inspiration” Award during the ceremony.
Hosted by Jeffrey Tambor, the inaugural awards ceremony was presented by the Los Angeles Entertainment Industry Council of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. Howard Bragman and Alan Kannof, both members of the Board of Directors of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, co-chaired the event.
Following is the complete list of winners:
Tisch Lifetime Achievement Award:
Arthur Hiller
Outstanding Achievement Award:
Rugrats 10th Anniversary — Nickelodeon / Klasky-Csupo
Network Television Film Award:
Anne Frank — ABC / Disney
Cable Television Film Award:
Varian’s War — Showtime
Documentary Film Award:
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport — Warner Bros.
Television Series Award:
The West Wing — Warner Bros. Television / NBC
Female Character in Television:
Hannah Taylor Gordon, Anne Frank — ABC / Disney
Male Character in Television:
Richard Schiff, The West Wing — Warner Bros. Television / NBC
Female Character in Film:
Rachel Weisz, Enemy at the Gates — Paramount Pictures / Mandalay Films
Male Character in Film:
Steven Weber, Club Land — Showtime
Cross-Cultural Production Award:
Backstory: Gentleman’s Agreement — AMC / Prometheus Entertainment
MorningStar Commission’s “Woman of Inspiration” Award:
Patti Felker of Nelson Felker Levine & Dern LLP.
