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Year: 1980 (53rd) Academy Awards
Category: Documentary (Feature)
Film Title: From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China
Winner: Murray Lerner, Producer
Presenter: Lesley-Anne Down, Richard Chamberlain
Date & Venue: March 31, 1981; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
MURRAY LERNER:
First of all, to encounter the miracle of modern China through the musical vitality—musical genius and youthful vitality of Isaac Stern is an experience equaled only by receiving this award. There are a few people I must thank, and too few in the time we have. First and foremost, the executive producer Walter Scheuer, who had the vision not only to initiate the project but the courage to finance it, and that took a lot of courage because it was a long and complex project. Allan Miller, Tom Haneke and the editorial crew who so beautifully completed the film. The location crew who, challenged by what they saw in China, worked with me unceasingly from dawn until midnight throughout the length of the production. But most of all I would like to thank the Chinese people who greeted us so warmly and allowed us to film what for them was unusual in such an open and frank way.
In the face of so much senseless violence in the world I hope that this vote is a vote not only for the film, but for a process: the fellowship—communication through the fellowship of music which imparts harmony into the human heart rather than violence. And I hope that this and I believe it can contribute in some way towards our living together peacefully both as neighbors and as nations. Thank you.
© Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
[Note: All winners are present except where noted; NOT all winners may have spoken.]
