International Oscar: new submissions and the "english language" problem again

We now have a total of 66 submissions for Oscar's Best International Feature competition. Here are the new submissions since our last overview roundup.

• Brazil -Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (Brazil & Oscar)
• Chile -The Mole Agent - now streaming on Hulu
• Colombia -Forgotten We'll Be
• Denmark -Another Round (EFA Nominee | Denmark & Oscar)
• Dominican Republic - A State of Madness
• Finland -Tove
• France -Two of Us (France & Oscar)
• Jordan -200 Meters
• Kyrgyzstan -Running to the Sky 
• Latvia -Blizzard of Souls
• Suriname -Wiren (FIRST SUBMISSION!) 
• Tunisia - The Man Who Sold His Skin
• Uzbekistan - 2000 Songs of Farida

In addition to the 66 titles already announced we have finalist lists for Italy, Nepal, and Serbia on the respective Oscar charts.

ELSEWHERE 
We have begun to hear rumors that Canada's Funny Boy which hits Netflix on December 10th is mostly in the English language so if that's true it might be disqualified from the category (this has happened to several films in the past). Films have to be less than 50% English language in their dialogue to be eligible. The only exception the Academy has made is that they've now approved "Pidgin English" ostensibly to make it easier for certain African countries to submit after Nigeria and Austria's entries, both featuring Nigerians were disqualified last year. But Pidgin English is a broad term so we don't know how lenient they'll start being given this new ruling.Trailers rarely paint the whole truth about a movie but the trailer to Funny Boy is ENTIRELY in what sounds like traditional English.

WHERE TO SEE THE MOVIES?
If you want to get a jump on some of the submissions 12 of the 65 titles are streaming or will be soon.  Netflix has six of them: 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 on December 10th, Canada's Funny Boy.  You can also stream Chile's The Mole Agent on Hulu, Guatemala's La Llorona on Amazon, Indonesia's Impetigore is on Shudder or Roku, Lithuania's Nova Lituania on MUBI, and South Korea's Man Standing Next on Amazon, YouTube, or iTunes. Denmark's Another Round, which feels like a likely nominee or at least finalist arrives in December in both theaters and on VOD. You can follow the list as it grows at our Oscar charts or on our Letterboxd list. 

Interview: Director Juho Kuosmanen on Finnish Oscar Entry 'The Happiest Day in The Life Of Olli Mäki'

By Jose Solís.


In 1962, a young Finnish boxer faced featherweight champion of the world Davey Moore in a match that would go down in sports history as one of the most bittersweet for the tiny European country. Director Juho Kuosmanen has captured the event from the perspective of the challenger (played by Jarkko Lahti in a breakthrough) who finds himself vanishing among the excitement and pressure of the fight. The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki is a bittersweet tale about our need to create larger than life personalities that help us fulfill our desires, but fail to fulfill those who are actually participating in the experience. We see the sensitive, but quiet, Olli light up when he’s with his girlfriend Raija (Oona Airola), even though his manager Eelis (Eero Milonoff) suggests she will only make him lose the fight. Despite that the film is about a boxer, it has more in common with melancholy romances like Jules and Jim and Roman Holiday, than with Raging Bull. The film premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival where it picked up the Prize Un Certain Regard, since then it went on to become the Finnish Oscar entry, so I spoke to director Kuosmanen about the parallels between the film and his life, shooting in black and white, and entering the craze of awards season.

Read the interview after the jump.

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Finland's Oscar Entry and the European Film Awards Finalists

Finland has chosen its Oscar submission this year.

They've gone with the acclaimed black and white boxing drama The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki which is about a featherweight championship match between American and Finnish boxers in 1962.

That film is also in the finalist list for the European Film Awards. Nominations for the EFAs will be announced on November 5th. The EFA ceremony changes location each year and this year it will be held in Poland on December 10th. Because of competing eligibility dates you'll notice that each year's EFA list contains films from different Oscar seasons. The list of their finalists for 2016 is after the jump...

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Interview: Klaus Härö on Globe Nominee & Oscar Finalist 'The Fencer'

Five of the nine foreign film finalists will become Oscar nominees on January 14th. Here's Jose to talk Finland's Oscar finalist. 

Jose here. Klaus Härö’s The Fencer is based on the real life story of Endel Nelis (Märt Avandi), a fencer who escapes Leningrad in the 1950s, and goes into hiding in the town of Haapsalu, Estonia, where he becomes an essential member of the community when he starts a fencing club. Cherished by children, many of whom need a father figure after being orphaned during the Russian occupation, Nelis is also feared and loathed by others who wish he would return where he came from and leave them alone.

Härö’s film is an example of classic storytelling at its best, using gorgeous cinematography, a lush score and featuring a compelling performance by the swoon worthy Avandi, it’s no surprise that Oscar voters were moved to include it among the entries in the exclusive Foreign Film shortlist. It has also been nominated for a Golden Globe. A couple of weeks before the Oscar announcement was made,

I talked to Härö about his obsession with period films, casting Avandi and awards season. Our interview is after the jump...

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CIFF Foreign Film Oscar Report, Vol. 1: Czech Republic, Finland, Georgia & Uruguay

Tim here. Now that the Chicago Film Festival is all over, I can offer the rest of my thoughts on the official submissions for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar that I was able to catch.

CZECH REPUBLIC: FAIR PLAY
A political drama about sports, or a sports drama about politics? Why not be both, says this film about a teenage track star in 1980s Czechoslovakia, who gets bullied into taking steroids by the government forces that want to show off a whole population of physically gorgeous super-athletes at the 1984 Olympics. The battle being waged over ownership of one’s body and health in a dictatorship is an interesting one, and well presented; lead actress Judit Bárdos is a bit shapeless and superficial in portraying the internal tensions of this conflict, but the film around her has been constructed with enough merciless geometry and clinical coolness that it’s surprisingly able to survive a flat central performance.

Oscar prospects: Eastern European reminiscences about the late Communist period feel like they’re some kind of Oscarbait, but not that many have actually shown up in this category. This is, to be sure, a solid example of the form, and the human interest hook is rock solid. By no means do I expect to see it on the nine-film shortlist, but it’s not going to be a “wait, how did THAT get there?” moment if it manages to do so.

Angry Finnish teens, Georgian corn farming, and Uruguayan Nazi hunters after the jump

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