Over the years, natives of Roslyn have excelled in the artistic world, including films and entertainment. Last week, one native walked off with the motion industry's biggest prize of all. Emily Russo, co-founder of Zeitgeist Films, saw her firm win the Oscar for Nowhere in Africa, which was voted as the year's best foreign film.

Nowhere in Africa is a film about a German Jewish family that flees Europe for the unlikely destination of Kenya. Writing in The Wall Street Journal, critic Joe Morgenstern called the film "a story full of old-fashioned romance with adventure, told with a modern sensibility."

Zeitgeist Films is an art film distributor with offices in lower Manhattan. The company acquired the film in November 2001 for the purpose of putting it on the American market. Prior to Oscar night, the firm's owners were told that they had a good chance to win the prize. In his review, Morgenstern even claimed, "if there's any justice it will win an Oscar."

After winning the award, Ms. Russo recalled how the firm prepared for the big evening. "We borrowed a loft for the occasion, and we just did it up for our staff and our families," she said in a published interview. "We didn't know what the outcome was going to be, but we were ready for anything."

In fact, no one from Zeitgeist attended the ceremonies in Hollywood. Tickets for foreign language film nominees are limited, and the ones for Nowhere in Africa went to the film's German producers. In fact, Karen Link, the film's writer and director couldn't attend due to a family emergency.

Winning an Oscar carries numerous dividends with it. For Ms. Russo and the rest of the people at Zeitgeist, the most immediate one is wider distribution for the film. Nowhere in Africa will now be shown on 33 screens across the country, in all the major markets. Within two weeks, the film will make its way to the Roslyn area, opening at the Clearview Theatre in Manhasset.

A native of East Hills and a graduate of Roslyn High School, Ms. Russo admits that she wasn't interested in the world of theater until she attended SUNY-Binghamton. "My brother was an usher at the Roslyn Theater, that was my only connection to movies," she joked. At Binghamton, Ms. Russo received a degree in Cinema Studies. From there, she worked in various areas of film, including production and distribution.

In 1988, Ms. Russo, along with Nancy Gerstsman, founded Zeitgeist. Over the years, the firm has distributed close to 100 films. They include many foreign films, plus a number of documentaries. The company, Ms. Russo said only distributes on average, six films per year. They try to be "very selective," choosing films for a "niche market," and hoping that the audience grows from there. "We seek to find an audience for what films we have," Ms. Russo said.

"We are very pleased that after doing a lot of hard work to get extra recognition for what we're doing," Ms. Russo said.