Oscar's Foreign Race Pt 3 - Female Directors

With the 87 wide official list of foreign Oscar submissions released to consider, we thought we'd dig a little deeper this week into various aspects of the race. We've already shared all the trailers so let's break down how the directors shake out with the rich and promising topic of women behind the camera.

FEMALE DIRECTORS
Contrary to popular internet belief, very generally speaking of course, female directors overseas are not as rare or as systemically unsupported as they have historically been in the US. There are usually at least a handful of female-helmed films in the long official submission list. This year we have the second most we've ever had in the run up to the nominations. Of the 87 movies in contention, 20 were directed or co-directed by women. 

Rungano Nyoni was born in Zambia but emigrated to the UK when she was a little girl. Her debut feature is the widely acclaimed I Am Not a Witch (2018) which won the BAFTA last season for Outstanding Debut and is now playing in selected cities in the US.  She was previously nominated at the BAFTAs for a short film Mwansa the Great (2011). She is the second female filmmaker chosen by the UK for the Oscars, the first being Havana Marking for Afghan Star (2009) but that number isn't as dire as it sounds. The UK has only submitted 16 films in the history of the Oscars since most of the films produced there are in English...

Nadine Labaki is Lebanon's most internationally prominent director breaking through 11 years ago with the hit Caramel (2007). Her latest festival sensation Capernaum (2018) won a special Jury prize at Cannes and is opening in several international markets over the next few months including the US on December 14th.

18 more women after the jump...

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Oscar's Foreign Race Pt 1 - Trailers A-K / Where to See The Movies.

by Nathaniel R

Today with the release of the official contenders list for Best Foreign Language Film we will be updating our foreign film charts to reflect the final list. While we're doing that please enjoy a full collection of trailers and information about where / when you can see the movies if you really want to dive in. You'll probably have to watch these trailers piecemeal because 2 minutes x 87 adds up to one long-ass movie! Ready? Deep breath. Here we go with the first half from Afghanistan through Kosovo. (Previously announced submissions from Cuba and Kyrgyzstan are conspiciously missing from the final list -- were they disqualified?)

Here are the first 44 films. Part two coming soon...  

AFGHANISTAN Rona Azim's Mother
Where to see: Unknown 

ALGERIA Until the End of Time
Where to see: Unknown

ARGENTINA The Angel
Where to See: Opens in US movie theaters on November 9th

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Coming Very Soon: Oscar Submissions "Burning" and "Border"

NYFF/TIFF screenings from Nathaniel R

"My what lovely posters!" he said, as he struggled to decide how to review two pictures that are best seen cold, knowing as little as possible. "But people don't buy tickets / get excited about movies without knowing something," he reasoned with himself about reviewing both South Korea and Sweden's Oscar submissions which are opening in US theaters very soon.

"Okay, okay," the purist in him, responded. "I'll say a little something about each but only if I can limit my discussion to the posters! People absolutely shouldn't watch the trailers." "Deal" his practical self muttered rolling his eyes, having been through this existential crisis of movie blogging numerous times. "Proceed..."

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Middleburg Film Festival Announces Its (Oscar-Seeking) Lineup

by Nathaniel R

The Middleburg Film Festival is one of The Film Experience's favorite stops on the road to Oscar. It's only one weekend long (like Telluride) and takes place in scenic Virginia, just one hour from DC, at the Salamander Resort and Spa. The festival began in 2013 and has been upping the ante each year (last year's festival prominently featured future Oscar nominees and winners like Greta Gerwig, Mudbound, James Ivory, and A Fantastic Woman.) Inbetween movies you can go horseback riding, visit the charming town and its wineries, or go for walks on the grounds.

One of my favorite events, unique to this festival, is a concert featuring a famous film composer -- the Nicholas Britell concert last year was just phenomenal. This year, they're throwing a bit of a curveball since the event will be in honor of a songwriter instead. Nine-time Oscar nominee Diane Warren will be performing some of her work.

Diane Warren

The lineup this year is as follows and tickets are now on sale...

Opening Night:  ROMA 

Friday Spotlight: BOY ERASED
Centerpiece: THE FRONT RUNNER

Closing Film: GREEN BOOK
Tributes/Honorees: Actress Yalitza Aparicio, Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, Songwriter Diane Warren, and Director Nadine Labaki (Capernaum).

The Rest of the Films AT ETERNITY'S GATE • BEN IS BACK • BIGGEST LITTLE FARM (doc) • BORDER (Sweden's Oscar submission) • CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? • CAPERNAUM (Lebanon's Oscar submission) • COLD WAR (Poland's submission • DIVIDE AND CONQUER: ROGER AILES (doc) • EVERYBODY KNOWS • THE FAVOURITE • HAPPY AS LAZZARO • LITTLE WOODS • MARIA BY CALLAS (doc) • NEVER LOOK AWAY (Germany's submission) • A PRIVATE WAR • RUBEN BRANDT, COLLECTOR (Animated) • SHOPLIFTERS (Japan's submission) • SUNSET (Hungary's submission) • THEY’LL LOVE ME WHEN I’M DEAD (doc) • WHAT THEY HAD • WIDOWS • WILDLIFE • WOMAN AT WAR (Iceland's submission)

We have almost the full list of Foreign Oscar Contenders now

by Nathaniel R

We're now up to 79 entries for Best Foreign Language Film, so this will be our last chart update before the official announcement by AMPAS in a week or so. There's probably only 10-12 that weren't officially announced that will show up on the list as that list generally tops out at around 90 titles.

A few of the most recent entries are from Argentina (the beautiful-boy-on-crime-spree drama El Angel), Bangladesh (No Bed of Roses headlined by international star Irffan Khan), Kyrgyzstan (road trip drama Night Accident), and Costa Rica (university student pregnancy drama Medea). I'm kicking myself that I didn't see El Angel at TIFF because it was on the schedule but I dropped it on an exhausting day.

RafikiFinally, perhaps you've been following the drama around Kenya's submission. The director of the initially-banned lesbian romance Rafiki (which Chris reviewed here from TIFF) fought valiantly to get the film screened at home to make it eligible for submission. The government caved to allow it but, as we predicted, Kenya still wouldn't actually submit it. The less political (and thus a very political choice!) inspirational drama Supa Modo about a terminally ill little girl was submitted instead.

FOREIGN PREDICTIONS
Submissions pt 1 - Algeria through Estonia
Submissions pt 2 - Finland through Morocco
Submissions pt 3 - Nepal through Vietnam