Cape Town-based film maker, Don Edkins, won South Africa's latest Oscar with his documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side, at the 80th Oscar gala in Los Angeles. It is based on the story of an Afghan taxi driver who died after being interrogated by the US military in 2002. Don was the executive producer of this doccie, which was part of the international project, Why Democracy?
South Africa's first Oscar win was in 1983. Since 2003, South Africans have done well at the Oscars - script writer Ronald Harwood (2003 for The Pianist), cameraman Dion Beebe (2003), Charlize Theron (2004 for Best actress, in Monster), and the Zulu film Yesterday (2005 Best Foreign Film). In 2006 Charlize and Dion were also Oscar nominees - Dion won for his camera work on Memoirs of a Geisha. Gavin Hood's Tsotsi won Best Foreign film in 2007. Ronald Harwood was nominated this year for the third time, for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
