22 October 2008

Parlez-moi d'amour

Again setting a record for most countries in participation, the official 67 country submissions for the 2009 Academy Awards have been announced, via IndieWire. The notables include Entre les murs (from France), 3 Monkeys (from Turkey), Everlasting Moments (from Sweden), My Magic (from Singapore), Salt of This Sea (from Palestine), O' Horten (from Norway), Tulpan (from Kazakhstan), Gomorra (from Italy), Waltz with Bashir (from Israel), Tony Manero (from Chile), Last Stop 174 (from Brazil), Eldorado (from Belgium) and Lion's Den (from Argentina). Of course, with this category's shitty track record, none of the above will get nominated, even as the Academy tries and tries to fix their shameful mistakes. You can read the full list here.

2 comments:

Blake Williams said...

I think it is a shame that Lion's Den is representing Argentina when Martel's La Mujer sin Cabeza and Alonso's Liverpool are both better and more important.

I know that the Academy is trying something new where they have a committee of 20 international critics to add three films to the shortlist of 15, hopefully that committee can select any foreign film, and not just pick from the films submitted as each country's "official selection."

reassurance said...

I think Argentina is one of the most exciting countries in the world right now for film. Two recent Argentine films that I absolutely adored were XXY and Glue, and I'm extremely excited to see La Mujer sin cabeza and Liverpool, particularly after absolutely loving Martel's La Ciénaga.

I'm pretty sure that this new committee thing for next year's Oscars can pick any foreign language film released in the US that year, though don't quote me on that. It would fix an issue like France choosing Persepolis over The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (I'm pretty sure they didn't chose Bell because it was directed by an American), as Bell would have pretty much been a shoe-in for the win (and also, even though, Persepolis seemed like a good shot too, silly Academy). I'm curious to see how this year pans out, as there are a couple of foreign releases, like I've Loved You So Long from France.

Thanks for commenting!