Archive | Award
Israeli doco wins prize at Canadian film festival
Critically-acclaimed ‘The Law in These Parts,’ which charts Israeli justice system’s dealing in Palestinian territories, wins New Director’s Prize at Canadian International Film Festival
A film chronicling the Israeli justice system’s dealings in the Palestinian territories has snagged yet another international prize, this time in Canada.
Israeli filmmaker Ra’anan Alexandrowicz’ “The Law in These Parts” has won the Special Jury Prize in the international feature category at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which took place in Toronto and is considered North America’s leading event of its kind.
Ever since it won the Best Documentary Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival last year, the film has garnered critical acclaim and prestigious prizes worldwide. One such win includes the World Cinema Jury Prize in the documentary category at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
“The Law in These Parts” features a series of interviews with the judges and officials who architected a system of long-term military jurisdiction in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as historical footage showing the enactment of these laws upon the Palestinian population.
Good weekend for Israeli films
Four other Israeli documentaries competed in the Canadian festival this year: Tamar Tal’s “Life in Stills,” Miri and Erez Laufer’s “One Day After Peace,” Guy Davidi and Emad Burnat’s “Five Broken Cameras” and Silvina Landsmann’s “Soldier/Citizen.”
The weekend was a successful one for Israeli filmmakers abroad; in addition to Alexandrowicz’ win in Canada, two Israeli directors grabbed prizes at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Nadav Lapid’s “Policeman” won the New Director’s Prize, while Eran Kolirin’s “The Exchange” won the Fipresci Prize, which is selected by critics and aims to promote film art.
The “Policeman” film’s triumph is not surprising considering its box office success in France and the fact it has been purchased for distribution in the United States. The drama, which follows the life of a member of an Israeli elite anti-terrorist squad, has also won Best Film at the Buenos Aires International Film Festival last month.
Source: Ynetnews.com
Israeli ‘lock alert’ up for IFSEC innovation award
WatchLock system sends owner text message if someone tries to pry it open
A new alert system developed by Israel’s MultiLock and Starcom Systems aims to tattletale on thieves – literally.
The WatchLock – a lock enforced with special GPS and cellular chips – allows owners to track its location anywhere in the world, and send them a text message should anyone try to pry it open.
The system is the first of its kind in the world and is one of the leading candidates for the IFSEC 2012 innovation awards.
Held in the UK in mid May, IFSEC is the largest annual security event in Britain and one of the most prestigious in the world.
WatchLock looks like a slightly oversized version of a standard lock, but its unique system sends out its location at any given time.
The system keeps a log of every time the lock is opened and should anything but its key be used, it alerts the owner by SMS or email immediately.
The locator system is not power-dependent, making it ideal for securing remote locations or moving objects, such as trucks or containers.
Source: Ynetnews.com
Controversial Israeli campaign wins UN award
Israeli advertising agency which sought creative solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict wins UN commendation
For the first time in history, the United Nations has granted an Israeli firm a gold medal for its efforts in seeking an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
The winner is Baumann Ber Rivnay (BBR Saatchi & Saatchi), an Israeli advertising company whose campaign, Blood Relations, offers a creative solution to the decades-long rift. The premise? Getting the two populations to share blood, instead of spilling it.
Developed in collaboration with the Peres Center for Peace and the Parents Circle – Families Forum, the campaign brought bereaved Israelis and Palestinians together for a blood drive.
The donated units from the Israelis then went to Palestinian patients, and vice versa. The project raised a simple question: Could you hurt someone with your blood running through their veins?
The project inspired similar blood drives that were held by Israeli and Muslim communities worldwide.
“Winning the award is a great honor for the firm and the state,” said Baumann Ber Rivnay CEO Yossi Lubaton. “In a time when we feel Israel’s isolation in the world and the UN, winning a prize doled out by the UN makes us proud.
“We wanted to raise awareness for the fact that beyond any political conflict, no matter how difficult and drawn-out, the people who live here are tired of bloodshed and violence. We are pleased over the recognition that the project is getting across the globe.”
Source: Ynetnews.com
Israeli woman is ‘Europe’s top young researcher’
L’Oreal and UNESCO have named a Weizmann Institute biologist working in the field of probiotics for the award.
Multinational cosmetics firm L’Oreal and UNESCO have named a Weizmann Institute biologist working in the field of probiotics, commonly referred to as beneficial bacteria, “Europe’s top young researcher.” For her work in researching probiotics to treat disease, Dr. Naama Geva-Zatorsky will receive a two-year $40,000 postdoctoral scholarship.
During the past three years, young Israeli women have been able to apply for the program, which began 14 years ago and aims at promoting research among women starting out their scientific careers. There are only 15 annual fellowship winners around the world.
Among the members of the Israeli judges’ panel who selected her to compete with others in Europe are several senior Israeli women scientists, including Israel Science Academy president Prof. Ruth Arnon, Nobel Prize for Chemistry laureate Prof. Ada Yonath, Ben-Gurion University president Prof. Rivka Carmi (who is also a renowned pediatrician and geneticist) and Prof. Ephrat Levy- Lahad, head of the medical genetics department at Shaare Zedek Medical Center.
L’Oreal Israel CEO Nava Ravid said her company regards helping young women scientists as vital to their work. In the last century, 95 percent of all Nobel laureates have been men, she said.
“The world needs science, and science needs women, especially now,” she added.
Science and Technology Minister Prof. Daniel Herschkowitz said Geva- Zatorsky is living proof of the scientific power of Israel and the rising force of women in science. He said he hoped this was one in a chain of top prizes that she would receive for her work.
Knesset women’s lobby chairman MK Rachel Adatto, a physician by training, said the winner is an example of the growing number of Israeli women who contribute to science.
“I hope that her research will lead to an improved quality of life in Israel and in the world,” Adatto said.
Geva-Zatorsky arrived on Wednesday in Paris to receive her award and discuss her work, which aims at using “good bacteria” to treat diseases from gastroenterological disorders and diabetes to immune disorders and cancer. She noted that the body contains 10 times more bacteria than human cells, adding that “the bacteria that grow in the body from birth have a vital influence on our bodies and our health.”
Story via JPost
Judea Pearl awarded ‘Nobel Prize in AI computing’
Father of murdered journalist Daniel Pearl wins Turing Award for artificial intelligence research which laid foundation for iPhone’s Siri, Google’s driverless cars
Judea Pearl, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, has been awarded the prestigious Turing Award this week.
Pearl, 75, was being honored for “innovations that enabled remarkable advances in the partnership between humans and machines,” the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) stated.
Pearl is a professor of computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was born in Tel Aviv in 1936 and earned degrees from Technion in Israel, Rutgers University and Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. Pearl is considered a philosopher as well as a computer scientist.
He is the father of Daniel Pearl, a journalist for The Wall Street Journal who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002.
Judea Pearl’s accomplishments over the last 30 years have provided the theoretical basis for progress in artificial intelligence and led to extraordinary achievements in machine learning. His research laid the foundation for such inventions as the iPhone’s Siri speech recognition technology and Google’s driverless cars.
“His work serves as the standard method for handling uncertainty in computer systems, with applications ranging from medical diagnosis, homeland security and genetic counseling to natural language understanding and mapping gene expression data,” the ACM said.
“His influence extends beyond artificial intelligence and even computer science, to human reasoning and the philosophy of science,” it added.
Pearl has been honored by the industry and his peers many times. Last year he was inducted into the IEEE’s (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) AI Hall of Fame, and he received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computers and Cognitive Science from the Franklin Institute in 2008.
The Turing award, named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing and considered the “Nobel Prize in Computing,” carries a $250,000 prize sponsored by computer chip giant Intel and Internet titan Google.
Source: Ynetnews.com
Obama announces Medal of Freedom honor for Shimon Peres
Israeli President Shimon Peres will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom this spring, President Obama announced at the American IsraelPublic Affairs Committee conference in Washington.
“Shimon once described the story of the Jewish people by saying it proved that, ‘slings, arrows and gas chambers can annihilate man, but cannot destroy human values, dignity and freedom,’” Obama said as he announced the award. “He has lived those values. He has taught us to ask more of ourselves and to empathize more with our fellow human beings.”
Obama spoke privately with Peres after the main conference session and congratulated him on the award. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is America’s highest civilian honor.
Delegates to the conference, who had an otherwise mixed reaction to Obama’s speech, greeted the announcement with applause.
“It’s extremely well-deserved, the man has dedicated his life to peace,” said Milton Salzer, a first-time delegate from Illinois. “His whole life he’s had the message, peace is the first alternative, war is the last.”
“He’s done a lot for the relationship between Israel and America,” said Jeffrey Freimark, a delegate from Florida. “There’s a bit of a political ploy to it, but nonetheless it’s good solid recognition of someone who’s every much deserving.”
The Israeli head of state spoke ahead of Obama at the conference, after being greeted onto the stage by a choir of children. Peres expressed hope that the younger generations in Israel’s Arab neighbors will embrace democracy, while emphasizing Israel’s need to defend itself against Iran.
Source: LA Times