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Alan & Naomi

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Alan & Naomi
U.S. videocassette cover
Directed bySterling Van Wagenen
Written byMyron Levoy
Jordan Horowitz
Based onAlan & Naomi
by Myron Levoy
StarringLukas Haas
Vanessa Zaoui
Production
company
Distributed byLeucadia Film Corporation
(original release)[1]
PorchLight Entertainment
Release date
  • January 31, 1992 (1992-01-31)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budgetunder US$3 million[1]

Alan & Naomi is a 1992 film about the friendship between two children in 1944 Brooklyn.[2] Lukas Haas and Vanessa Zaoui star as the title characters, and the screenplay is based on a 1977 novel of the same name by Myron Levoy.

Premise

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After initial urging from his parents, 14-year-old Alan Silverman (Haas) develops an emotional friendship with Naomi Kirshenbaum (Zaoui), who has been deeply troubled since seeing her father killed by the Nazis in Europe.

Background

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Myron Levoy's original 1977 novel was an American Book Award Finalist for Children's Literature and an honor book for the Jane Addams Children's Book Award,[3] the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and The Horn Book. Alan & Naomi received the National Book Awards For Children's Literature in Germany and Austria,[4][5][6] and the Dutch Silver Pencil Prize.[7] In 1986 Alan & Naomi was adapted for a theatrical play, Geheime Freunde, by Rudolf Herfurtner.[8] The novel has been translated into eleven languages.[3]

Production

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Alan & Naomi was the first project from Leucadia Film Corporation,[1] a Salt Lake City, Utah company founded in 1989[9] "by producers Sterling Van Wagenen and David Anderson and entrepreneur Ian Cumming".[1] It was also Van Wagenen's theatrical directorial debut; in the mid-1980s, he had also helmed a Holocaust television documentary called Inside the Vicious Heart.[1]

Release

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During its original 1992 run, Alan & Naomi was released in 100 theatres in 19 U.S. cities.[1] On February 8, 1999, Canadian family-entertainment company CINAR acquired the film as part of its purchase of the twelve-title Leucadia library.[9]

Reception

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The film won the Crystal Heart Award at the 1992 Heartland Film Festival. Vanessa Zaoui was also nominated for the 1993 Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress Co-starring in a Motion Picture.[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Orme, Terry (1992-01-31). "Home-Grown Premiere: Utah-Based Producers Release First Film". The Salt Lake Tribune. p. C1. Retrieved 2023-01-26 – via ProQuest.
  2. ^ Kempley, Rita (1992-01-31). "Alan & Naomi". The Washington Post.
  3. ^ a b Maughan, Shannon (February 27, 2020). "Obituary: Myron Levoy". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on December 21, 2022. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  4. ^ "Der gelbe Vogel". Der Buxtehuder Bulle (in German). Archived from the original on January 17, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  5. ^ "Buch: Der gelbe Vogel". Arbeitskreis Jugendliteratur (in German). Archived from the original on January 8, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  6. ^ Bundesministerium Kunst, Kultur, öffentlicher Dienst und Sport. "Kinder- und Jugendbuchpreis" (in Austrian German). Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  7. ^ "Griffels, Penselen en Paletten – Bekroonde boeken sinds 1954". Stichting Collectieve Propaganda van het Nederlands Boek (in Dutch). Archived from the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  8. ^ "Young Theatre bonn: "Secret Friends" based on the novel by Myron Levoy". Theaterkompass. Theater Compass. 15 May 2010. Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  9. ^ a b "Cinar Acquires Leucadia Film Corporation Family-Film Library". Business Wire (Press release). 1999-02-08. Retrieved 2023-01-26 – via ProQuest.
  10. ^ "Be Moved by the Power of Film - See "Tomorrow" Today" (Press release). Heartland Film Festival. 2005. Archived from the original on 2007-05-13. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
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