''Alan & Naomi'' is a 1992 film about the friendship between two children in 1944 Brooklyn.

Lukas Haas Lukas Daniel Haas (born April 16, 1976) is an American actor and musician. His acting career has spanned four decades, during which he has appeared in more than 50 feature films and a number of television shows and stage productions. Early life ...

and Vanessa Zaoui star as the title characters, and the screenplay is based on the novel by Myron Levoy. The 1977 novel is an

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

Finalist for Children's Literature and an honor book for the

Jane Addams Children's Book Award The Jane Addams Children's Book Award is given annually to a children's book published the preceding year that advances the causes of peace and social equality. The awards have been presented annually since 1953. They were previously given joint ...

, the

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most p ...

and The Horn Book. ''Alan & Naomi'' has received the National Book Awards For Children's Literature in Germany and Austria, and the Dutch Silver Pencil Prize. In 1986 ''Alan & Naomi'' was adapted for a theatrical play, ''Geheime Freunde'', by

Rudolf Herfurtner Rudolf Herfurtner (born 19 October 1947) is a German writer. Life Born in Wasserburg am Inn, Herfurtner graduated from the Luitpold-Oberrealschule in Wasserburg. After the death of his parents in 1965, he moved to Munich. There he studied German ...

. The novel has been translated into eleven languages.

Premise

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 Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

in Europe.

Reception

''Alan & Naomi'' won the Crystal Heart Award at the 1992

Heartland Film Festival The Heartland International Film Festival is a film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana. The festival was first held in 1992, its goal is to "inspire filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion pictu ...

. Also, Vanessa Zaoui was nominated for the 1993

Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award (originally known as the Youth in Film Award) is an accolade presented by the Young Artist Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 1978 to honor excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young ...

for Best Young Actress Co-starring in a Motion Picture.

References

External links

* 1992 drama films 1992 films 1990s English-language films Films set in 1944 Films set in Brooklyn Films shot in North Carolina American drama films 1990s American films {{1990s-drama-film-stub