Abbey Jack Neidik


Abbey Jack Neidik is a Canadian film director, producer, writer and cinematographer.

Career

In 1980, Neidik co-produced and directed Dark Lullabies about the effects of the Holocaust on the next generations of Jews and Germans. Dark Lullabies was the inaugural film at the Stratford Festival Forum, screened at the Berlin Arsenal 70th anniversary of The Holocaust, the Inconvenient Films: International Human Rights Festival.
Neidik next directed Between The Solitudes/Entre Solitudes, about the Anglo community in Quebec., followed by The Love Prophet and the Children of God, a look at a controversial religious cult. A Song for Tibet about Tibetans in exile; The Cola Conquest, produced by Neidik, is a three-part series about Coca-Cola as a metaphor for American influence worldwide. Neidik co-produced and directed The Journey Home: A Romanian Adoption,  a film about Romanian orphans a decade after the fall of Ceausescu. He co-produced and co-directed She Got Game, a behind-the-scenes look at women’s tennis; Vendetta Song, which examines the tradition of honour killings in rural Kurdish tribes in Turkey; co-produced and directed Unbreakable Minds, which aims to de-stigmatize mental illness; co-produced and co-directed Inside the Great Magazines, a three-part series about the inner workings of the magazine industry; and co-produced and directed Canadaville, USA, about billionaire Frank Stronach's social experiment in rural Louisiana.
In 2013, Neidik co-produced and directed Beyond Earth: the Beginning of NewSpace; Shekinah: the Intimate Lives of Hasidic Women; in 2015 Big Wind, about the effects of industrial wind turbines; and, in 2018, the sequel Shekinah Rising.
Most recently, Neidik co-directed, wrote and produced First to Stand: The Cases and Causes of Irwin Cotler, a documentary about former Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Canada and international human rights lawyer, Irwin Cotler and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. The film premiered on Human Rights Day, December 10, 2022 at the Cinéma du Musée in Montreal, Quebec. The film was screened for the U.S. Congress on the occasion of Cotler receiving the Lantos Human Rights Award.

Books

Neidik was co-editor in the publication of The Aftermath: A Survivor's Odyssey Through War-Torn Europe.

Awards

  • The Love Prophet and the Children of God
  • Chicago International Television Competition, Gold Plaque - Best Biography of the Year
  • Yorktown Short Film and Video Festival - Golden Sheaf Award
  • Hot Docs - Best Biography Nominee
  • She Got Game
  • Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival, California - Best Documentary
  • Columbus International Film and Video Festival - Chris Statuette
  • Sports Movies & TV Milano International FICTS Fest, - Guirlande d'Honneur participation
  • Aurora Awards - Gold Awards
  • Vendetta Song
  • Hot Docs CIDA Prize - Best Canadian Documentary on International Developmen
  • Hot Docs - Top Ten Audience Favourites
  • Calgary International Film Festival- Best Canadian Documentary
  • Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois, Quebec Film Critics Association - Best Medium Length Documentary
  • Vendetta Song - Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois – Choix du public
  • Female Eye Film Festival - Best Documentary
  • International Women’s Film Festival, Torina - Third prize
  • Columbus International Film and Video Festival – Humanities – Bronze Plaque
  • Unbreakable Minds
  • Willpower Board of Directors Grateful Appreciation Award
  • Canadaville, USA
  • Chicago International Film Festival - Merit Prize for Social Political Documentary
  • Shekinah: The Intimate Life of Hasidic Women
  • Crown Heights Film Festival – Best Documentary
  • Beyond Earth: the Beginning of NewSpace
  • Hollywood Independent Documentary Awards - Award Winner
  • Beyond Earth Film Festival - Jury’s Special Mention.
  • First to Stand: The Cases and Causes of Irwin Cotler
  • Mannheim Arts and Film Festival – Honorable Mention
  • Gold Star Movie Awards – Best Feature Length Documentary
  • Festival de Television de Monte-Carlo Golden Nymph Awards  - Official Selection
  • Goldstar Movie Awards – Official Recognition
  • Indie Vegas Film Festival - Honorable Mention