Road to the Oscars: From AJFF to the Big Night

The pinnacle of the awards season has now come to a close, with the 93rd Academy Awards. Like every film industry event and awards show during the pandemic, this year’s Oscar telecast had its own unique spin on reinventing a traditional format for COVID times. It’s been a particularly exciting time for Jewish-themed film and television programming, with a number of such titles being recognized and honored. Among them: an Israeli short, White Eye, which was nominated for Best Live-Action Short Film at the Oscars and screened at the most recent 2021 edition of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. For this episode of our In Conversation podcast, host Sara Glassberg had the opportunity to speak with the film’s director, Tomer Shushan, in an interview recorded just days before the big night, to learn more about the film’s journey from inception, to production, to the film festival circuit, and eventually the Academy Awards.