- Albania, “East, West, East,” Gjergj Xhuvani, director;
- Algeria, “Hors la Loi” (“Outside the Law”), Rachid Bouchareb, director;
- Argentina, “Carancho,” Pablo Trapero, director;
- Austria, “La Pivellina,” Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, directors;
- Azerbaijan, “The Precinct,” Ilgar Safat, director;
- Bangladesh, “Third Person Singular Number,” Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director;
- Belgium, “Illegal,” Olivier Masset-Depasse, director;
- Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Circus Columbia,” Danis Tanovic, director;
- Brazil, “Lula, the Son of Brazil,” Fabio Barreto, director;
- Bulgaria, “Eastern Plays,” Kamen Kalev, director;
- Canada, “Incendies,” Denis Villeneuve, director;
- Chile, “The Life of Fish,” Matias Bize, director;
- China, “Aftershock,” Feng Xiaogang, director;
- Colombia, “Crab Trap,” Oscar Ruiz Navia, director;
- Costa Rica, “Of Love and Other Demons,” Hilda Hidalgo, director;
- Croatia, “The Blacks,” Goran Devic and Zvonimir Juric, directors;
- Czech Republic, “Kawasaki’s Rose,” Jan Hrebejk, director;
- Denmark, “In a Better World,” Susanne Bier, director;
- Egypt, “Messages from the Sea,” Daoud Abdel Sayed, director;
- Estonia, “The Temptation of St. Tony,” Veiko Ounpuu, director;
- Ethiopia, “The Athlete,” Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew, directors;
- Finland, “Steam of Life,” Joonas Berghall and Mika Hotakainen, directors;
- France, “Of Gods and Men,” Xavier Beauvois, director;
- Georgia, “Street Days,” Levan Koguashvili, director;
- Germany, “When We Leave,” Feo Aladag, director;
- Greece, “Dogtooth,” Yorgos Lanthimos, director;
- Greenland, “Nuummioq,” Otto Rosing and Torben Bech, directors;
- Hong Kong, “Echoes of the Rainbow,” Alex Law, director;
- Hungary, “Bibliotheque Pascal,” Szabolcs Hajdu, director;
- Iceland, “Mamma Gogo,” Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, director;
- India, “Peepli [Live],” Anusha Rizvi, director;
- Indonesia, “How Funny (Our Country Is),” Deddy Mizwar, director;
- Iran, “Farewell Baghdad,” Mehdi Naderi, director;
- Iraq, “Son of Babylon,” Mohamed Al-Daradji, director;
- Israel, “The Human Resources Manager,” Eran Riklis, director;
- Italy, “La Prima Cosa Bella” (“The First Beautiful Thing”), Paolo Virzi, director;
- Japan, “Confessions,” Tetsuya Nakashima, director;
- Kazakhstan, “Strayed,” Akan Satayev, director;
- Korea, “A Barefoot Dream,” Tae-kyun Kim, director;
- Kyrgyzstan, “The Light Thief,” Aktan Arym Kubat, director;
- Latvia, “Hong Kong Confidential,” Maris Martinsons, director;
- Macedonia, “Mothers,” Milcho Manchevski, director;
- Mexico, “Biutiful,” Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, director;
- Netherlands, “Tirza,” Rudolf van den Berg, director;
- Nicaragua, “La Yuma,” Florence Jaugey, director;
- Norway, “The Angel,” Margreth Olin, director;
- Peru, “Undertow” (“Contracorriente”), Javier Fuentes-Leon, director;
- Philippines, “Noy,” Dondon S. Santos and Rodel Nacianceno, directors;
- Poland, “All That I Love,” Jacek Borcuch, director;
- Portugal, “To Die Like a Man,” Joao Pedro Rodrigues, director;
- Puerto Rico, “Miente” (“Lie”), Rafael Mercado, director;
- Romania, “If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle,” Florin Serban, director;
- Russia, “The Edge,” Alexey Uchitel, director;
- Serbia, “Besa,” Srdjan Karanovic, director;
- Slovakia, “Hranica” (“The Border”), Jaroslav Vojtek, director;
- Slovenia, “9:06,” Igor Sterk, director;
- South Africa, “Life, above All,” Oliver Schmitz, director;
- Spain, “Tambien la Lluvia” (“Even the Rain”), Iciar Bollain, director;
- Sweden, “Simple Simon,” Andreas Ohman, director;
- Switzerland, “La Petite Chambre,” Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond, directors;
- Taiwan, “Monga,” Chen-zer Niu, director;
- Thailand, “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,” Apichatpong Weerasethakul, director;
- Turkey, “Bal” (“Honey”), Semih Kaplanoglu, director;
- Uruguay, “La Vida Util,” Federico Veiroj, director;
- Venezuela, “Hermano,” Marcel Rasquin, director.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
65 Countries Vie for Best Foreign Film Oscar®
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Tribeca Festival Wraps
Heineken Audience Award, CITY ISLAND
The Heineken Audience Award was presented yesterday (3 May 2009) at the Tribeca Film Festival, NYC (TFFNYC). As the winner, CITY ISLAND received a $25,000 cash award. Ten diverse films were competing. The top three are screening at the Festival site in NYC as this post is being written.
The winner, CITY ISLAND, is a feature-length comedy written and directed by Raymond De Felitta (The Thing About My Folks, 05). Primary cast: Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Emily Mortimer, Alan Arkin, Steven Strait, and Ezra Miller.
The Rizzo family lives on a little-known island in the Bronx that is as quaint and sleepy as any New England town. But the Rizzos are not as picturesque as the island they inhabit, and like most dysfunctional families, they all stop at nothing to avoid the truth.
I must say, the title grabs me. However, I can wait for the DVD.
The Tokyo Orchestra disbands. A young cellist returns to his home in a rural town and to the family business. "The movie achieves a pleasingly droll blend of screwball-like humor with a moving story about reconciliation, acceptance, and finding one's place in the world, enhanced by a richly orchestrated score."
See a previous post, 28 February, for much more about DEPARTURES. Click the title of this post to see more about the 2009 top 10 audience picks, screening times, and previous winners.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Nine Foreign Language Films Advance in Oscar® Race
Nine films on this shortlist will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 81st Academy Awards®. Sixty-five films originally qualified in the category.
The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Austria, REVANCHE (Revenge), Gotz Spielmann, director;
Canada, THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE, Benoit Pilon, director;
France, THE CLASS, Laurent Cantet, director;
Germany, THE BAADER MEINHJOF COMPLEX, Uli Edel, director;
Israel, WAlTZ WITH BASHIR, Ari Folman, director;
Japan, DEPARTURES, Yojiro Takita, director;
Mexico, TEAR THIS HEART OUT, Roberto Sneider, director;
Sweden, EVERLASTING MOMENTS, Jan Troell, director;
Turkey, 3 MONKEYS, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director.
Foreign Language Film nominations for 2008 are determined in two phases. The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 65 eligible films between mid-October and January 10. That group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute this shortlist.
The provision for the Executive Committee to augment the first short list was added last year because certain films that were eligible, and had received a number of awards, were completely overlooked by the first committee. Main case in point was the Romania movie, 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS, directed by Cristian Mungiu. Among its many awards was best film at Cannes, 2007. I am happy to see that at least four in the above list are, indeed on this short list, especially THE CLASS from France, which won best film at Cannes last May.
The other three are THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX, WALTZ WITH BASHIR (won Golden Globe this past week for BFLF), and 3 MONKEYS. In THE CLASS (Entre les murs), French teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself teaching a year with a racially mixed class in a tough Parisian neighborhood.
MEINHOF COMPLEX concerns Germany's terrorist group, The Red Army Faction (RAF), which organized bombings, robberies, kidnappings and assassinations in the late 1960s and '70s. Based on Stefan Aust's best-selling nonfiction book. In BASHIR, a young man tells the film's director about being chased by 26 vicious dogs. A family with problems refuses to hear, see, or talk about them, so they are like the 3 MONKEYS (Üç maymun) in the well-known bric-a-brac.
In Phase Two of the nomination procedure for this category, specially selected committees in New York and Los Angeles will winnow this list to five eligible for nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film (BFLF). The number of originally qualified films allows for a maximum of five nominees in the BFLF category. The committee members will spend this Friday, Saturday and Sunday viewing three of the films each day
The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, 22 January 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Oscar® Entries Deadline for Foreign Language, and Shot Films
Entry forms for consideration for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination for the 81st Academy Awards®, along with documentaion and one English-subtitled film print, and all other required materials, must be at the Academy in Beverly Hills by 5:00 p.m., 1 October. Only one entry per country.
The Academy mailed entry forms to 95 countries in June. Last year, the Academy invited 93 countries to submit. Of those who submitted, films from 61 countries were qualified for nomination.
In the short film categories, filmmakers must submit an entry form, one film print, or copy in an approved digital format, and all other required materials by the same deadline.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, 22 February 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, Hollywood, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®
8949 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills, CA 90211-1972
Or, click the title of this post.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Oscar® Foreign Film Short List
The two-phase nomination process for the Best Foreign-Language Film (BFLF) has whittled the list of 63 foreign motion pictures submitted for Oscar® nomination consideration, down to nine. More specifics on these movies later. For now, here's the list alphabetized by country, with directors:
Austria, THE COUNTERFEITERS, Stefan Ruzowitzky;
Brazil, THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION, Cao Hamburger;
Canada, DAYS OF DARKNESS, Denys Arcand;
Israel, BEAUFORT, Joseph Cedar;
Italy, THE UNKNOWN, Giuseppe Tornatore;
Kazakhstan, MONGOL, Sergei Bodrov;
Poland, KATYN, Andrzej Wajda;
Russia, 12, Nikita Mikhalkov;
Serbia, THE TRAP, Srdan Golubovic.
The Phase I committees formed to screen the initially-submitted motion pictures have done their job. Next, a Phase II committee will view the shortlisted films and select the five nominees for the category.
Phase II screenings will take place from Friday, 18 January, through Sunday, 20 January, in both Hollywood and New York City. That committee is composed of ten randomly selected members from the Phase I group, joined by specially invited ten-member contingents in New York and Los Angeles.
Nominations for the 80th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, 22 January 2008, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, 24 February 2008, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.
Mimi's addendum to that last paragraph: We hope!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Foreign Language Movies Submitted for Oscar®
A record 63 countries*, including new entrants Azerbaijan and Ireland, submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 80th Academy Awards®, Academy President Sid Ganis announced 17 October 2007. In June, the Academy sent submission information inviting 93 countries to submit motion pictures.
The 2007 submissions, with directors, are:
Argentina, XXY, Lucia Puenzo;
Australia, THE HOUSE SONG STORIES, Tony Ayres;
Austria, THE COUNTERFIETERS, Stefan Ruzowitzky;
Azerbaijan, CAUCASIA, Farid Gumbatov;
Bangladesh, ON THE WINGS OF DREAMS Golam Rabbany Biplob;
Belgium, BEN X, Nic Balthazar;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, IT'S HARD TO BE NICE Srdan Vuletic;
Brazil, THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION, Cao Hamburger;
Bulgaria, WARDEN OF THE DEAD, Ilian Simeonov;
Canada, DAYS OF DARKNESS, Denys Arcand;
Chile, PADRE NUESTRO, Rodrigo Sepulveda;
China, THE KNOT, Yin Li;
Colombia, SANTANAS, Andi Baizr;
Croatia, ARMIN, Ognjen Svilicic;
Cuba, THE SILLY AGE, Pavel Giroud;
Czech Republic, I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND, Jiri Menzel;
Denmark, THE ART OF CRYING, Peter Schonau Fog;
Egypt, IN THE HELIOPOLIS FLAT, Mohamed Khan;
Estonia, THE CLASS, Ilmar Raag;
Finland, A MAN'S JOB, Aleksi Salmenpera;
France, PERSEPOLIS, Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud;
Georgia, THE RUSSIAN TRIANGLE, Aleko Tsabadze;
Germany, THE EDGE OF HEAVEN, Fatih Akin;
Greece, EDUART, Angeliki Antoniou;
Hong Kong, EXILED, Johnnie To;
Hungary, TAXIDERMIA, Gyorgy Palfi;
Iceland, JAR CITY, Baltasar Kormakur;
India, EKLAVYA -- THE ROYAL GUARD, Vidhu Vinod Chopra;
Indonesia, DENIAS, SINGING ON THE CLOUD, John De Rantau;
Iran, M FOR MOTHER, Rasoul Mollagholipour;
Iraq, JANI GAL, Jamil Rostami;
Ireland, KINGS, Tom Collins;
Israel, BEAUFORT, Joseph Cedar;
Italy, THE UNKNOWN, Giuseppe Tornatore;
Japan, I JUST DIDN'T DO IT, Masayuki Suo;
Kazakhstan, MONGOL, Sergei Bodrov;
Korea, SECRET SUNSHINE, Chang-dong Lee;
Lebanon, CARAMEL, Nadine Labaki;
Luxembourg, LITTLE SECRETS, Pol Cruchten;
Macedonia, SHADOWS, Milcho Manchevski;
Mexico, SILENT LIGHT, Carlos Reygadas;
The Netherlands, DUSKA, Jos Stelling;
Norway, GONE WITH THE WOMAN, Petter Naess;
Peru, CROSSING THE SHADOW, Augusto Tamayo;
Philippines, DONSOL, Adolfo Alix, Jr.;
Poland, KATYN, Andrzej Wajda;
Portugal, BELLE TOUJOURS, Manoel de Oliveira;
Puerto Rico, LOVE SICKNESS, Carlitos Ruiz, Mariem Perez;
Romania, 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, AND 2 DAYS, Cristian Mungiu;
Russia, 12, Nikita Mikhalkov;
Serbia, THE TRAP, Srdan Golubovic;
Singapore, 881, Royston Tan;
Slovakia, RETURN OF THE STORKS, Martin Repka;
Slovenia, SHORT CIRCUITS, Janez Lapajne;
Spain, THE ORPHANAGE, J.A. (Juan Antonio) Bayona;
Sweden, YOU, THE LIVING, Roy Andersson;
Switzerland, Late bloomers, Bettina Oberli;
Taiwan, ISLAND ETUDE, Chen Huai-En;
Thailand, KING OF FIRE, Chatrichalerm Yukol;
Turkey, A MAN'S FEAR OF GOD, Ozer Kiziltan;
Uruguay, THE POPE'S TOLET, Enrique Fernandez, & Cesar Charlone;
Venezuela, POSTCARDS FROM LENINGRAD, Mariana Rondon;
Vietnam, THE WHITE SILK DRESS, Luu Huynh.
*Last year, 2006, 62 countries submitted motion pictures. Findland's was withdrawn after the list was announced.
For your convenience, you will find a link on the right sidebar of this blog to this list, "Foreign Films Submitted for 80th AAs," and it will remain there, with updates, for the next year. You will find addtional information by clicking "Mimi's Film Festival Page," link. After opening, use your Browser's "edit, find" feature on the top menu bar to quickly find the movie, or country in which you are interested.
Nominations for the 80th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, 22 January 2008, at 5:30 a.m. PT (8:30 a.m. ET) in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Beverly Hills.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, 24 February 2008, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. Jon Stewart will host.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
First BFLF Oscar® Deadline Monday
In the short film categories, filmmakers must submit an entry form, one film print or copy in an approved digital format, and all other required materials by the deadline. In the Foreign Language Film category, filmmakers must submit entry forms, one English-subtitled film print and all other required materials by the deadline. Only one motion picture will be accepted from each country.
This past June, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences mailed Foreign Language Film award entry forms to 95 countries, facilitating their submissions for the 80th Academy Awards. Read the complete, and newly revised rules.
The 2006 Best Foreign Language Film was THE LIVES OF OTHERS (Das Leben der Anderen), Germany, written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The German spy drama, based on records from the now defunct East German (GDR/DDR) secret police, Stasi, is currently in preproduction as an English-language movie by former Miramax Films chiefs Bob and Harvey Weinstein, and filmmakers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella. It is tentatively set to be released in 2010.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, 24 February 2008, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. Click the schedule for the 80th Academy Awards on the right sidebar.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Best Foreign Language Movie Goes English
When it came time for me to choose a Best Foreign Language Film, I was stumped. The winner in the too-close-to-call race was THE LIVES OF OTHERS from Germany.
As I posted 23 February, it was easy to conclude that the two front runners were THE LIVES OF OTHERS (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, director, Germany), and PAN'S LABYRINTH (Guillermo del Toro, director, Mexico), order of rank undeterminable. I, like many writing about the Oscars®, found myself unable to make a decision in this category. I bemoaned I had seen neither movie. Had I seen both of them, I would have gone out on a limb and picked THE LIVES OF OTHERS. I did warn PAN'S fans that I was doubtful it would win.
Possible reasonsing for LIVES win? The Academy mandates that all Academy members casting final votes in this category must prove that they have seen all five nominees. Up until this time it was only important for members of the two evaluating committees who made the preliminary cuts to see the movies.
Let's face it, the younger members of the Academy are busy. In the main, they do not have time to view all the films in the Foreign Language category. Many are simply not interested.
That skews the votes towards the older members of the Academy. Now, knowing that, I should have gone out the limb and predicted THE LIVES OF OTHERS as the winner. I was about 90% certain that this was the way the votes would come down but, in the Oscar race, 90% is not good enough. Well, next year is another year, and since Martin Scorsese did win the Best Director Oscar, I will, God willing, be watching and evaluating this category again next year.
MEANWHILE, Daily Variety reported yesterday (Thursday), that THE LIVES OF OTHERS will be remade as an English-language movie, if the current round of plans and deal-making is successful. The team is composed of former Miramax Films chiefs Bob and Harvey Weinstein, and Oscar-winning filmmakers Sydney Pollack (OUT OF AFRICA, 1985) and Anthony Minghella (THE ENGLISH PATIENT, 1996), partners in Mirage Productions. The Weinstein brothers will develop the project through their Weinstein Co., partnering with Mirage.
According to Pollack, the partners teamed to secure the rights to do the project from the writer/director von Donnersmarck. The development team feels that this movie about wiretaps, spying, and loss of personal privacy is relevant in the lives of Americans today, and the movie deserves wider distribution than it will receive in the original German language. The remake in English will facilitate this.
LIVES is von Donnersmarck's debut movie. Oh, my. Might we possibly see this movie nominated again in the best feature motion picture category for 2008? It is possible. Keep watching the movies!
Friday, February 02, 2007
Foreign Language Motion Picture Nominees
Nominees for the Best Motion Picture in a Foreign Language for 2006, listed by country with director:
Algeria, DAYS OF GLORY (Indigènes), Rachid Bouchareb;
Canada, WATER, Deepa Mehta;
Denmark, AFTER THE WEDDING, Susanne Bier;
Germany, THE LIVES OF OTHERS, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck;
Mexico, PAN'S LABYRINTH, Guillermo del Toro.
Other foreign-language movies that made the final cut for possible nomination but were not nominated, listed in alphabetical order by country with director:
France, AVENUE MONTAIGNE, Daniele Thompson;
Spain, VOLVER, Pedro Almodovar;
Switzerland, VITUAS, Fredi M. Murer;
The Netherlands, The Netherlands, BLACK BOOK, Paul Verhoeven.
Nominated Best Motion Picture in a Foreign Language for 2006, listed by title and with some detail:
AFTER THE WEDDING (Denmark, Efter brylluppet), Susanne Bier, director / co-writer A manager of an orphanage in Denmark is sent to Copenhagen, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.
DAYS OF GLORY (Algeria, Indigènes), Rachid Bouchareb, director / co-writer. During WWII, four North African men enlist in the French army to liberate that country from Nazi oppression, and to fight French discrimination.
PAN'S LABYRINTH (Mexico, El Laberinto del Fauno), Guillermo del Toro, director / writer / producer. A young girl travels with her pregnant mother to live with her mother's new husband in a rural area of northern Spain in 1944. Franco's fascist repression is at its height in Spain and the girl must come to terms with it through her imaginary world. This movie is NOT for children.
THE LIVES OF OTHERS (Germany, Das Leben der Anderson), Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, director / writer). This is Von Donnersmarck's debut movie, which focuses on the horrifying, sometimes unintentionally funny former East Germany, set in the 1980s.
WATER (Canada), Deepa Mehta, director / writer. The plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi. It focuses on a relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is from a lower caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
Mimi Comments - -
LABYRINTH reminds me of Spanish director Victor Erice's THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE, (El Espíritu de la colmena, 1973) in which two young sisters, also in Franco's rural Spain of the 1940s, set out to find the Frankenstein monster after a traveling picture show visits their small town. One sister, played by Ana Torrent in her movie debut, finds only an army deserter, despite all her fantasizing about the monster Mary Shelley created within her own imagination. The late great Fernando Fernan Gomez plays Ana's detached bee-keeping father. Actually, the entire family is never seen together, leading the viewer to speculate if the family is also imaginary. If you can, rent the DVD.
I really think this category should be called Best Motion Picture in a Foreign Language. I once had a professor in film school who constantly reminded us that film is the physical material that facilitates the process of making a motion picture so that it may be exhibited. That was before video tape, digital, or computer generated images (CGI). The award IS given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not the Academy of Film Arts and Sciences.
Furthermore, is it necessary to attach "film" to the categories? Why not Best Animated Short, Best Animated Feature, Best Live Action Short, Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short, etc. The use of "film" is superfluous in all the categories except, Achievement in Film Editing. That is, if anyone actually edits using film stock anymore. Think about it.
8-)
