International Oscar Race Pt 1 - 93 Films This Year. It's List Time!

by Nathaniel R

It's that lovely too brief moment in the year when we have the pretty-much official list for Best International Film before they are savagely narrowed to 15 films on December 21st and then further reduced for the actual nominations in . It is possible that a couple will be disqualified of course (as that happens from time to time and there are two titles that might be if IMDb is correct that they're fully in English. This year there are 93 submissions (full charts / letterboxd list / predictions) so let's break it down for some stats and trivia for fun, shall we?

The Dozen Highest Profile Submissions

Please do not mistake this list for Finalist predictions! Armchair pundits often make the mistake of assuming that high-profile means you'll be nominated but you never know what the individual voters and the Executive Committee might like. History is full of high profile titles that Oscar rejected in this category...

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European Film Award nominations for 2021

by Nathaniel R

There's no true leader at the European Film Awards this year with three films (Titane, The Father, and Compartment No 6) tied for the most nominations but there is a leader if you look at individual nominations: Italian master Paolo Sorrentino is up for three prizes himself for Italy's Oscar submission The Hand of God (Film, Director, and Screenplay) so consider that a force going into the Oscar finalist selections. The European Film Awards also have juries that decide on craft awards like Cinematography, Production Design, and the like but they don't have traditional nominations so we won't know the winners for a while yet. 

The nomination list and commentary after the jump...

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International Contenders: Egypt, Lebanon, Thailand, Venezuela, etc..

by Nathaniel R

Time to check in again with the International Oscar submissions as eight more countries join the fray which include teen girl dramas from North Macedonia and Egypt and a Thai horror film that's currently streaming on Shudder...

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Interview: Director Eran Kolirin on Israel’s Oscar Submission "Let It Be Morning"

By Abe Friedtanzer

The winner of Israel’s Oscars, the Ophir Awards, automatically goes on to become the country’s Oscar submission for Best International Feature. This year, that film is Let It Be Morning, which made headlines at Cannes because its Palestinian cast refused to attend, objecting to it being labeled an Israeli film. Those who have seen the film will surely appreciate that this attitude is expected and and very much in the spirit of the film’s content. I had the chance to speak with the film's Israeli director, Eran Kolirin (pictured left) who is best known for writing and directing The Band’s Visit. His new film premieres this week in New York City at the Other Israel Film Festival… 

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Portugal chooses "The Metamorphosis of Birds" for Oscar

by Cláudio Alves

When reading the list of films shortlisted for the Portuguese Oscar submission, I confess I was a tad disheartened. Only two of the six films had even been released when the finalists were announced, and I only had watched one of them. The other happens to be a project that reeks of exploitation, which I wasn't enthusiastic about promoting. At least, the film I did see, Catarina Vasconcelos' The Metamorphosis of Birds, was one I loved, going so far as voting for it as one of the best unreleased films on last year's Team Experience Awards. As luck would have it, the voting body responsible for the submission fell for it too…

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