Flashback Television’s powerful documentary Two Schools in Nablus has won Best Film in the Education Welfare Category at the prestigious Japan Prize 2008.
The Japan Prize for Education Media is the pre-eminent education television international contest, with over 290 entries received from more than 59 countries this year. And in the Welfare Education category, Two Schools in Nablus beat off stiff competition from 40 other contenders.
Produced by Flashback Television, for broadcasters Teachers TV and Al Jazeera English, Two Schools in Nablus documents the daily struggles of two schools in the West Bank. The programme provides a unique and very personal insight into the pressures of life in Palestine as a result of the political climate, and follows these schools as they try to maintain a high standard of education against extraordinary odds.
Accepting the prize on behalf on Flashback Television at the ceremony in the NHK Broadcast Center in Shibuya, Tokyo, Executive Producer Ingrid Falck said: ‘This is a tremendous honour and we are all delighted. The production team, led by Director Tom Evans, has strived to bring to the screen a genuine experience of the ongoing struggles for life and learning that go on in Palestine. The fact that this film has touched so many people is a credit to the tireless work of the teachers and students of these two extraordinary schools’
Executive Producer Taylor Downing comments:
‘“The passion for education and learning among both teachers and students in Palestine is immense despite the daily challenges facing the overcrowded and under-funded schools. Two Schools in Nablus, filmed over five weeks at the beginning of the school year really gets inside this and we are truly delighted to receive the Japan Prize. This is a great honour for us – and recognition for these two schools and what they go through.”
Andrew Bethell, Chief Executive of Teachers TV, adds:
“Teachers TV is delighted that Two Schools in Nablus has been honoured in this way. The film is a fine example of the channel’s commitment to an internationalist understanding of the common educational endeavour with which we are all engaged.”
Production Credits:
Executive Producers: Taylor Downing and Ingrid Falck
Director: Tom Evans
Editor: Sam Bennett
Field Producers: George Azar, Ghassan Khader, Mariam Shahin
Production Manager: Polly Plenderleith
Production Coordinator: Claire Parkinson
Commission Editor, Witness, Al Jazeera English: Flora Gregory
Commissioning Editor, Teachers TV: Andrew Bethell
A follow-up series entitled RETURN TO TWO SCHOOLS IN NABLUS was filmed over the closing weeks of the school year in the summer of 2008 in the same two schools. It is also directed by Tom Evans and Executive Produced by Taylor Downing and Ingrid Falck.