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88th Oscars. Oscar Contenders of 2015 - For prediction, discussion, entertainment purposes only

 discuss on the blog

PART 1 - AFGHANISTAN TO FINLAND
24 Official Submissions

Updated November 29th

France to Morocco 29 Submissions
Nepal to Vietnam 28 Submissions

 

Afghanistan
never nominated
UTOPIA
Hassan Nazer
Official Site | Trailer

95 minutes
Persian

DISQUALIFIED DUE TO TOO MUCH ENGLISH [src]

three tales of loneliness. One involves a woman trying to become pregnant and a man who swaps out the donor sperm for his own

Albania
never nominated
BOTA
Iris Elezi & Thomas Logoreci
Official Site | Trailer

100 minutes
Albanian 

A drama about a single week at a remote cafe. Said to be understated and beautifully shot

Algeria
5 noms | 1 win
TWILIGHT OF SHADOWS
Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina
Official Site

??? minutes
Arabic 

Hamina won the Palme d'or in the 1970s with Chronicles of Fire. He's been retired for many years before this return.

Argentina
6 noms | 2 wins
THE CLAN
Pablo Trapero
Official Site | Trailer

110 minutes
Spanish

Our Review

This is the infamous story of the Puccio family, who kidnapped neighbors and friends for ransom in the 1980s. Chilling.

Awards
Best Director Venice

Australia
never nominated
ARROWS OF THE THUNDER DRAGON
Greg Sneddon

??? minutes
synopsis???

 

Austria
4 noms | 2 wins
GOODNIGHT MOMMY
Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz
Official Site

99 minutes
German 

NOW PLAYING IN US
Interviewed Here 

A horror movie about twins whose mother returns after reconstructive surgery. But is it more than her face that's changed?

Austria has started the current century strong with two Oscars already for  Counterfeiters (2007) and Amour (2012)

Not Selected:
Amour Fou

Bangladesh
never nominated
JALAL'S STORY
Abu Shahed Emon
Official Site | Trailer

121 minutes
Bangla 

Like Moses a young orphan baby is rescued from a river. The events of his life prove unpredictable

It's rare to hear of Bangladeshi films even at festivals. When will their industry get a breakout film? 

Belgium
7 noms | 0 wins
THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT
Jaco Van Dormael
Official Site

113 minutes
French 

This comedy is about God living in Brussells with  his daughter and also: Catherine Deneuve. (anything with Catherine Deneuve in it is automatically about Catherine Deneuve, y'hear?)

Bosnia & Herzegovina
1 nom | 1 win
OUR EVERYDAY LIFE
Ines Tanović
Official Site | Trailer

90 minutes
Bosnian

The struggles of a family in postwar Bosnia. This is a feature debut for a short film filmmaker

Brazil
4 noms | 0 wins
THE SECOND MOTHER
Anna Muylaert
Official Site | Trailer

112 minutes
Portugueuse

Oscilloscope
Opened Aug 28th in US
 

Brazil is still waiting on a win as their best chances City of God and Central Station were thwarted by surprise snubs and a surprise BP contender in their category respectively. Muylaert previously wrote the screenplay to another Brazilian submission The Year My Parents Went on Vacation

 

Bulgaria
never nominated
JUDGMENT
Stephan Komandarev
Trailer 

107 minutes
Bulgarian 

Komandarev is the only Bulgarian director who almost made it to the Oscars - his last submission made the finalist list - so they're sending his latest, about a father and son living near the border to Turkey and Greece

Cambodia
1 nom | 0 wins
THE LAST REEL
Kulikar Sotho
Official Site 

106 minutes
Khmer

We predicted this one last season but it was delayed so here it is as 2015's official pick. Cambodia is coming off of their first nomination for the brilliant Missing Picture. This one is about a lost film recovered that tells different truth about the traumatic past

Canada
7 noms | 1 win
FELIX & MEIRA
Maxime Giroux
Official Site

105 minutes
French, Yiddish

Currently Streaming

This is a cross cultural affair drama about a married Yiddish woman and a grieving man

A lower profile for our neighbors to the North this year with Xavier Dolan out of the running. Other films that werent' selected include: Philippe Falardeau's Guibord's Going to War and the Leo winner Violent , about a dying young woman in Norway (but a Canadian film)

Chile
1 nom | 0 wins
THE CLUB
Pablo Larrain

Reviewed

98 minutes
Spanish

Music Box Films
TBA 

Chile's only nomination was for Pablo Larrain's No so they're sending him again. His latest is about a Catholic Church crisis counsellor sent to investigate multiple abuse charges against priests and nuns in a beach town.

China
2 nominations
GO AWAY MR TUMOR
Han Yan

??? minutes
???

Synposis

Not Selected
Blind Massage and Mountains May Depart had high awards profiles and early apparently incorrect word was that they had sent in Jean Jacques Annaud's Wolf Totem

 

Colombia
1st nomination!
EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT
Ciro Guerra

Reviewed at TIFF

125 minutes
Spanish, Portugueuse, German, Latin 

Oscilloscope
FEB 2016

a visually stunning journey on the Colombian Amazon for a rare plant 

Costa Rica
never nominated
IMPRISONED
Esteban Ramirez
Official Site 

97 minutes
Spanish 

This is a family drama about a young girl who gets involved (secretly) with a prison inmate.


 

Croatia
never nominated
THE HIGH SUN
Dalibor Matanić
Official Site | Trailer

123 minutes
Croatian 

This was already a prize winner at Cannes. It's about a Serbian-Croatian romance just as the civil war slaughter begins

Czech Republic
9 noms | 2 wins*
HOME CARE
Slavek Horak
Official Site 

92 minutes
Czech 

a home care worker realizes she might need some care of her own and not only live for others

*These stats include all but one of the nominees from the former Czechoslovakia since all but one of them were Czech films. The Slovakian language nominee goes with The Slovak Republic's statistics

Denmark
14th nomination | 3 wins
A WAR
Tobias Lindholm
Official Site

Chat w/ Pilou Asbaek
US Opening FEB 2016

115 minutes
Danish 

A soldier's (Pilou Asbæk, Game of Thrones) actions in Afghanistan have a huge effect on his family back home. Lindholm previously made the popular Danish feature A Hijacking and was the cowriter of a Oscar nominee The Hunt

Not selected:
 Men and chickens, and 
The Look of Silence were finalists

 

Dominican Republic
never nominated
SAND DOLLARS
 Israel Cárdenas & Laura Amelia Guzmán

Review & Interview

84 minutes
Spanish, English, French 

Breaking Glass Pic
Now Playing

This LGBT drama stars Geraldine Chaplin as a wealthy British woman with a kept girl of sorts (who has her own oyfriend on the side) in this socioeconomic relationship drama

Estonia
1 nomination
1944
Elmo Nüganen

100 minutes
Estonian 

an epic World War II drama that was a huge hit at home. Estonia received their first nomination last season for Tangerine which actually co-starred the director of this one Elmo Nüganen.

Ethiopia
never nominated
LAMB
Yared Zelek

This played at Cannes and features a 9 year old boy and his pet. Oscar is fond of child protagonists in this category

 

Finland
1 nom | 0 wins
THE FENCER
Klaus Härö 
Official Site | Trailer 

93 minutes
Estonian, Russian 

Popular director Klaus Härö made this one with a lot of assistance from Estonia. Hopefully Oscar won't mind. It's about an inspirational swordsmen teacher in 1950s Estonian during the Soviet occupation

Not Selected:
The romantic war drama 
Wild Eye which takes place in the 1940s

 

CONTINUE ON TO...

France to Morocco 
29 Submissions

Nepal to Vietnam
 
28 Submissions

Countries That Did Not Submit This Year: Armenia , Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Bolivia, Egypt