Rabbit a la Berlin (Krolik po Berlinsku), produced by Poland’s public television TVP has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Short Documentary category.
Directed by Bartek Konopka, Rabbit a la Berlin tells the story of thousands of wild rabbits which inhabited the so-called ‘death zone’ of the Berlin Wall – a strip of land between two walls full of fresh grass and ideal for the animals. For years the rabbits lived there, the guards of the Wall keeping them safe.
“The film is an allegory presenting the history of Eastern Europe from a rabbit’s perspective,” said TVP spokeswoman, Aleksandra Biernacka, from TVP’s division of film festivals.
The competition
Other nominees for Oscar in Short Documentary category include: China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province about children killed in an earthquake in China in 2008, The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner about the legalization of assisted suicide, The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, about unemployment, and Music by Prudence, about disabled Zimbabwean singer.
Film critic Andrzej Kołodynski, editor of the monthly Kino, told Polish Radio Information Agency IAR that Rabbit à la Berlin stands a great chance to win an Oscar. “It is a unique, thought-provoking film which shows a certain political situation in Europe in a brilliant and intelligent way,” he said.
The winner of 2010 Academy Awards will be announced on 7 March. (di/mg/mk)
Related stories
Rabbit Berlin Style short listed, thenews.pl, Oct 13