SBS Wins Oscar .. Again

February 2008

SBS is becoming quite chummy with Oscar after scoring a second Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Taxi to the Dark Side which was part of the SBS commissioned Why Democracy? documentary series.

This follows a previous Oscar win in 2004 when animated short film Harvey Krumpet walked off with the gold statuette.

Why Democracy? is a series of documentaries commissioned by a group of international broadcasters, including SBS, which aired simultaneously across the globe in October 2007 as part of the world’s largest ever factual media event.

The series consisted of ten films from independent film-makers which explored issues around the democracy theme.

Taxi to the Dark Side, directed by Alex Gibney (who was also responsible for the Oscar nominated film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) and produced by Eva Orner (formerly of Melbourne), looks at the story of one victim of the global war on terror and asks – can terrorism destroy democracy?

It is the story of Afghan taxi driver Dilawar who was detained by the US Military and died five days after his arrest. His autopsy showed that he had died due to injuries sustained during his detention. Taxi to the Dark Side examines the broader issue of torture as a military interrogation technique through the prism of Dilawar’s experience.

“This Oscar win is further confirmation that SBS is home to some of the most compelling commissioned content for Australian audiences,” SBS Managing Director Shaun Brown said.

“SBS was proud to have commissioned the Why Democracy? series to help give these important documentaries a platform in Australia. All of the documentaries explored wide-ranging themes relating to democracy and were thought provoking in their individual ways,” SBS Director of Content, Matt Campbell said.

SBS congratulates all those associated with Taxi to the Dark Side and the Why Democracy? series on the Oscar win.