International Contenders Update
Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at 1:05PM
NATHANIEL R in African Cinema, Asian cinema, Best International Film, Oscars (20)
Since the last round up 6 more countries have announced Oscar submissions bringing the total of competing films to 43.
- BELGIUM - Working Girls A drama about three women from France crossing the border daily to Belgium for sex work
- INDONESIA - Impetigore (previously discussed) Usually there's a random horror movie somewhere in the submission list but this year we have not one but two Asian horror movies (the other is Roh/Soul from Malaysia). The only horror movie we can think of to be successfully nominated in this category was a very long time ago with Japan's Kwaidan (1964).
- IRAN - Sun Children (previously discussed)
- KENYA - The Letter This is the first time Kenya has submitted a documentary (the nomination for Honeyland last year seems to have embolded various countries to send docs as it looks like there will be more of them than usual this year)
- LESOTHO -This is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection First submission from this country! It's one of only three independent states on earth that are entirely surrounded by another single country (in this case South Africa) -- they call them "enclaved countries", so it's the first submission from any enclaved country actually (the others are San Marino and Vatican City). The film is about an 80 year old woman who fights the construction of a reservoir in her village
- TURKEY - Miracle in Cel No 7 This is a loose remake of a South Korean film of the same name about a mentally disabled man who is wrongly imprisoned. The original is just 7 years old and it's already been remade by Turkey, The Philippines, and Indonesia.
More details on the Oscar charts and also a visual overview of the whole field at Letterboxd
Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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