More International Oscar News: Several "Finalist" Lists Announced
Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 7:24PM by Nathaniel R
The Man Standing Next ...has the difficult task of following in Parasite's footsteps!
The submission charts for Oscar's Best International Feature Film race have been updated to reflect more new entries like Croatia's Extracurricular, Palestine's Gaza Mon Amour, Panama's war drama Causa Justa , Romania's documentary Collective, and South Korea's The Man Standing Next.
But the big news at the moment is six finalist lists so keep your eye out for any of these pictures to rise up...
Sweden will be deciding between these three films: About Endlessness from Roy Andersson (who Sweden has submitted four times but Oscar hasn't yet warmed to his peculiar genius), the child custody drama Charter by Amanda Kernell. and the documentary I Am Greta by Nathan Grossman. We're always rooting for Roy Andersson but will enthusiasm be there to submit him a fifth time? Here's a potentially relevant sidebar: He lost Best Film at Sweden's own Oscars (the Guldbagges) to their truly amazing Oscar submission from last season, And Then We Danced which Oscar unwisely passed on.
We already discussed one possibility from Mexico in the Ariel Award winner I'm No Longer Here (which is streaming on Netflix). It's one of six titles they've announced as possibilities. The other five are: Guie'dani's Navel by Xavi Sala, I Carry You with Me by Heidi Ewing, the buzzy dystopian Venice and AFI title New Order by Michel Franco (previously reviewed), This Is Not Berlin by Hari Sama (previously reviewed) and Workforce by David Zonana (which won Best First Work at the Ariel Awards).
The gay immigration drama I Carry You With Me, which will be released by Sony PIctures Classics in the states is the highest profile of those but we're surprised to see it on the list. With an American director and a significant amount of English in the film (half of it takes place in NYC) we wonder if it would be disqualified if they selected it. Regardless it's a brilliant film and we hope Oscar voters at least consider it somewhere.
We also have reports that Iran is considering the following four pictures for submission: Careless Crime by Shahram Mokri, Sun Children by Majid Majidi, Walnut Tree by Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian and Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness by Massoud Bakhshi...
You might recall that Sun Children was a hit at Venice, taking the prize for Best Young Actor or Actress. Given the Venice success we suspect they'll go with Sun Children.
Guatemala has three finalists for the submission honor. They are The Apostle/El Apostolado by Juan Manuel Méndez set in Guatemala City about a priest, the horror drama La Llorona by Jayro Bustamante about a paranoid dictator and his witch wife (which had an online release in the US this summer), and Luz by Javier Borrayo, a scifi drama about a man trying to measure karma to reconnect with his dead father.
The Netherlands are looking over 13 films but none of them seem to have much in the way of an international profile (yet): Buiten is het Feest by Jelle Nesna, magical-realist drama Buladó by Éche Janga (which won Best Film at the Dutch Oscars so it has to be considered a frontrunner for the submission), Last Days of Spring by Isabel Lamberti (who won "New Directors Award" at San Sebastián so that's another strong possibility), a dramedy called The Marriage Escape by Johan Nijenhuis (which was a big hit at home and up against Buladó at their own Oscars), My Best Friend Anne Frank by Ben Sombogaart, My Life by Norbert ter Hall, a documentary on art masters My Rembrandt by Oeke Hoogendijk, a drama about homeless young adults called Paradise Drifters by Mees Peijnenburg, The Promise of Pisa by Norbert ter Hall, Stop Filming Us by Joris Postema, the documentary They Call Me Babu by Sandra Beerends (which won Best Documentary at the Dutch version of the Oscars so that's another distinct possibility for submission), The Warden by Threes Anna and the dementia documentary Wei by Ruud Lenssen.
The Nepalese film industry, known as Gurkhawood or Kaliwood regionally, isn't very large but since 2013 they've been submitting every year without fail. Their first submission, Himalaya/Caravan (1999) is their only nominee thus far. They've narrowed it down to two pictures: Aama by Dipendra K. Khanal and Sarita by Sergio Basso
Reader Comments (4)
Thanks as always for these updates!
I think you're right about I Carry You with Me - it would be a great choice but probably too much English. And somehow This Is Not Berlin is one of their finalists? Oh well. Anything but New Order, please.
Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness is an interesting choice. It's sort of similar to Slumdog Millionaire, which could appeal to voters, but ultimately I don't think it would get nominated.
I saw that Collective is screening at DOC NYC - I wonder if Honeyland's inclusion last year was a fluke or if we'll see docs nominated again.
Collective is a nice film, but I wouldn't suspect it to break through in International Film-- Honeyland did because of subtle messaging and beautiful cinematography. Collective has neither of those, even if it is very involving. Best Documentary also seems to be extremely crowded this year (arguably the most competitive category of them all), so I suspect it'll be left out of that race as well.
I didn't have my stopwatch out, but I don't think I Carry You With Me came anywhere close to 50% English? I'd guess that even the bits in America are majority Spanish. The American director and half-American crew may be a big problem for that film's chances though.
Thanks as always for all your great coverage of the Best International Film category!
For the Netherlands, I’m pretty sure this is going to “My Best Friend Anne Frank”. Ben Sombogaart came close to winning an Oscar for “Twin Sisters” in 2003- the last time former powerhouse Netherlands was nominated. Also, the list originally included twelve films- “Anne Frank” was added a few days later. The same thing happened with last year’s submission, “Instinct”. The Golden Calf winner rarely gets selected; only 4 times in the last fifteen years.
For Guatemala, it’s almost certain to be the haunting “La Llorona” a wonderful little thriller that starts off slow but builds to a very satisfying conclusion. Guatemala usually produced barely one feature a year so it’s great they have enough production now to have a shortlist!
As for Sweden, I dread seeing Roy Andersson’s tiresome (and mostly identical) series of nonsensical vignettes every year they are nominated (three times since I’ve been following the category) so I have my fingers crossed for “Charter”....but I know that’s a long shot. Oscar has shown they have no patience for Andersson....Why does Sweden insist? 🙄
Although Italian co-production “Sarita” would probably be a stronger choice, I expect Nepal will go with local hit “Aama”.
Evan -- i agree on Honeyland. I think the reason it did what most other docs couldn't do in this category is it sometimes felt like a normal feature. There was very little, for example, in the way of narration or talking heads to tell you about a subject. It was so observational it could be adapted into a narrative feature with very miniscule script changes.
A.D. -- i guess we don't see eye to eye on Andersson ;) interesting that the Netherlands rarely selects their 'best film' winner at home.