What will the Golden Globes choose for international cinema?

by Nathaniel R

one of many titles that's eligible for the Globes but not the OscarsWhile we've never extensively covered the Golden Globes selection process it's worth noting that one of the categories where they historically definitely go their own way is in Best International Feature.

DIFFERENCES: Their aesthetic taste is different than Oscar voters but, more than that, they also have different rules. First, their own eligibility list is quite different and historically larger. Oscar only allows each country to submit one film (a system surely set in place to prevent France and Italy from hogging 100% of the nominations in the early years) but the Globes don't have that restriction so we've had years where they've honored more than one film from a single country. France, for instance, sent all of their Oscar submission finalists this year to the Globes. The Globes also don't get hung up on eligibility when it comes to international productions where many countries are involved as Oscar sometimes has. They also allow films from the United States to compete if they're not in the English language (so Minari and I Carry You With Me both have a shot at a nomination this year). There's one final difference: the Globes do not allow documentaries and animated films to compete in this category.

SIMILARITIES: Otherwise the rules are the same (eligibility window and no more than 50% in English) and a good chunk of the titles on Oscar's eligibility list are usually also sent to the Globes.

Here are the titles that differ from Oscar's list...

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Oscar submission deadline has passed for International Feature

Just a heads up that we forgot to mention. The deadline for countries to submit to the Oscars for Best International Feature Film passed on December 1st (the deadline is usually October 1st but they had two extra months this year due to COVID-19). All told 89 submissions have been announced (all accounted for on our Oscar charts) so we probably won't have a record breaking amount of titles. That said, 89 is a fluid number. The final "official" list generally includes a title or two that hadn't been announced previously and generally one or two of the ones that were announced are absent for vague reasons. All in all the list is made up of 33% debut filmmakers and 34% female directors so it's a "fresh voices" year. Only eight countries sent filmmakers who've already been nominated or who've made the finals. I'm on pins and needles to dive deeper into stats as I suspect the Academy will announce the full list very soon.

While we wait for the Official List we'll be sprucing up the other Oscar charts :) which we know need updates.

UPDATE: And here's the Golden Globes list of international hopefuls. Historically they have a different list than Oscar and also allow for more than one movie per country. 

China submits "Leap" to the Oscars

by Nathaniel R

China has submitted the women's volleyball drama Leap to the Oscars, which is already streaming on Amazon Prime. Gong Li headlines but you'd barely recognize her she's so unglamorous this time. The 55 year old superstar has recently returned to the screen after taking a few years off, and its' going pretty well. She's the flashiest thing about Disney's Mulan and now she's headlining her seventh Oscar submission in the International category. We already discussed China's Oscar history but how about Gong Li's history starring in Oscar hopefuls? Here they are...

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International Oscar - will we have a record number of competing films?

Since the Thanksgiving Eve update we've had the following films join the competition for Oscar's Best International Feature Film bringing the current number up to 84.

• Bangladesh - Sincerely Yours, Dhaka which is an anthology from multiple directors about life in Dhaka (streaming on Netflix)
• Belarus - Persian Lessons
• Hong Kong - Better Days which is  teen crime drama about a bully victim and a street thug who protects her (for rent on Amazon | more on Hong Kong and Oscar)
• Iceland - Agnes Joy a mother daughter drama
• Pakistan - Zindagi Tamasha / Circus of Life is about an elderly man who loves music whose life is changed by a social media post which brings him in conflict with the strict Muslim society in which he lives. 
• Serbia - Dara in Jasenovac  *sniffle* Was really hoping it'd be Father which I looooved at CIFF but perhaps this Holocaust drama about two kids in a concentration camp is stellar, too?
• Uruguay - Aleli in which three adult siblings fight over their father's home when he dies (streaming on Netflix)

The record for most competitors for Best International Feature Film is 92 (the 2017 competition). 2019 tried to break that with 93 submissions but two were disqualified, which allowed 2017 to keep the record. We're just 8 titles short (if none of the ones we've heard about are disqualified) of a new record for 2020. You can follow this list on the charts here or at letterboxd.

More International Contenders including a Student Academy Award Winner!

Since the last roundup the following countries have been added to the list of contenders for this year's Best International Feature Film race bringing our total to 77 contenders.

• Argentina -The Sleepwalkers
• Armenia - Songs of Solomon
• Bolivia - Chaco
• Egypt - When We're Born (a musical!) 
• Hungary - Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Hungary & Oscar)
• India - Jallikattu (streaming on Prime)
• Ireland - Arracht
• Italy - Notturno (Reviewed | Italy & Oscar) 
• Lebanon - Broken Keys (more on this one below)
• Philippines - Mindanao
• Thailand - Happy Old Year (streaming on Netflix)

You can follow the list as it grows at our Oscar charts or on our Letterboxd list.  

Jimmy Keyrouz. Photographed by Christophe Meireis.

One of fun trivia items about this new batch is that Jimmy Keyrouz, the 32 year old behind Lebanon's Broken Keys actually has Oscar history. He won a Student Academy Award for his short Nocturne in Black four years ago. That short didn't end up getting Oscar-nominated, but he made the finalist list. Now his first feature, about a pianist struggling to repair his piano in a town where terrorists have banned music, is submitted by his home country. How about that? Congratulations! 

If you want to watch the submissions, 12 of the 77 titles are streaming.

 India's Jallikattu is on Amazon Prime, Guatemala's La Llorona is on Amazon, Indonesia's Impetigore is on Shudder or Roku, Lithuania's Nova Lituania is on MUBI, South Korea's Man Standing Next is on Amazon, YouTube, or iTunes, and Chile's The Mole Agent on Hulu. Netflix has the other six currently available titles: Austria's What We Wanted, Mexico's I'm No Longer Here, Spain's The Endless Trench, Taiwan's A Sun, Turkey's Miracle in Cell No 7, and Thailand's Happy Old Year. 

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