| Alan & Naomi | |
|---|---|
 U.S. videocassette cover | |
| Directed by | Sterling Van Wagenen |
| Written by | Myron Levoy Jordan Horowitz |
| Based on | Alan & Naomi by Myron Levoy |
| Starring | Lukas Haas Vanessa Zaoui |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Leucadia Film Corporation (original release)[1] PorchLight Entertainment |
Release date |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | under 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 a1977 novel of the same name byMyron Levoy.
After 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 theNazis in Europe.
Myron Levoy's original 1977 novel was anAmerican Book Award Finalist for Children's Literature and an honor book for theJane Addams Children's Book Award,[3] theBoston 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 1986Alan & Naomi was adapted for a theatrical play,Geheime Freunde, byRudolf Herfurtner.[8] The novel has been translated into eleven languages.[3]
Alan & Naomi was the first project from Leucadia Film Corporation,[1] aSalt 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 calledInside the Vicious Heart.[1]
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 companyCINAR acquired the film as part of its purchase of the twelve-title Leucadia library.[9]
The film won the Crystal Heart Award at the 1992Heartland Film Festival. Vanessa Zaoui was also nominated for the 1993Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress Co-starring in a Motion Picture.[10]
