Intriguing Foreign Film Oscar options from Kosovo, Norway, and more
Tuesday, September 4, 2018 at 10:46PM by Nathaniel R
We're now up to 24 Oscar submissions so we're almost a third of our way to seeing the full list. Here are the new announcements since the last post. (You can see the full submission list, with more details and links to trailers and such, on the updated Oscar charts.) Surprisingly none of the three expected frontrunners (Poland's Cold War, Mexico's Roma, and Lebanon's Capernaum) have been officially announced as submissions yet. We have long lists for Brazil, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Israel to date but no official pick. We've usually heard about Mexico's longlist by now as well. Hmmm.
- The Waldheim Waltz -Austria
Documentary on a former UN Secretary General's relationship with the Nazis - The Eighth Commisioner -Croatia
A comedy about a politician overseeing an election on a remote island - A Son of Man -Ecuador
Father and son search for inca gold - Euthanizer - Finland
A dark morality tale about a mechanic who puts sick pets out of their misery... it's apparently pro-animal and anti-irresponsible pet owners though it sounds horrifying on surface. - Namme - Georgia
A family drama about the tradition of local healing waters threatened by environmental problems - The Marriage - Kosovo
A gay love triangle in which a woman doesn't know her fiance is in love with his best friend - What Will People Say - Norway
A Pakistani-Norwegian teenager is kidnapped by her parents and taken to Pakistan (where she has never been) to teach her a lesson. This film was released in the US back in July and we missed it. Argh! - Buffalo Boys -Singapore
A 19th century action movie about two brothers avenging their father, a former Sultan - The Interpreter -Slovakia
Two old men journey to meet surviving witnesses of a wartime tragedy
Related:
First 10 official contenders for foreign film
6 more contenders for foreign film
49 suggested European Film Awards contenders
Spain's Finalists
Israel's Finalists
Reader Comments (6)
I have seen U-JULY 22 and it is magnificent. However, correct or not, I feel that the decision from Norway to go with the other film has to be connected with the fact that Paul Greengrass has a film on the exact same incident being released in the awards season window. (I personally swing between correct decision and not - whether the Greengrass film will be high or low profile, it is hard to work out whether the Norwegian version will benefit or be hurt by any confusion between the two films.)
I recently watched The Family (Venezuela) on iTunes and it was very good.
Euthanizer (Finland) is out on iTunes as well.
Any other films released so far?
This Finnish movie! It made me want to cry just by reading this description!
I'm not sure that "Roma" will be eligible. I don't speak Spanish, but looking through the official site I found the regiment and it has this strange line:
"
ARTÍCULO 7o. Conforme a las bases que emite la AMPAS, podrán participar las
películas mexicanas de largometraje cuyos diálogos no deberán estar
predominantemente en inglés, y que hayan sido estrenadas y exhibidas
comercialmente en una sala cinematográfica en México, durante un periodo
mínimo de siete días consecutivos, que genere ingresos para el productor y
exhibidor entre el 1 de octubre de 2017 y el 31 de agosto de 2018."
I don't know if it's some kind of mistake or Mexican Academy has hardened the AMPAS rules, but they demand the film to be screened before September 1st and not October 1st, which makes "Roma"'s run in cinema impossible due to it participation in Venice (or at least I suppose so)....
Ilia -- if so that could actually be good news for ROMA. If it's not eligible for foreign film Oscar might embrace it more easily in the main categories since they won't want to see it unrewarded (as we saw happen with films like RED and TALK TO HER)
Anne Thompson has posted that ROMA had a low-key, 1-week cinema run in Mexico specifically to qualify for the Foreign Language Oscar.