Ulrich Tukur in John Rabe (top); City of Life and Death (middle); Lebanon (bottom)
A record 69 foreign language films are in the running for the 2010 Golden Globes, Philip Berk, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, has announced.
Among the films in the longlist are Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces, starring Penelope Cruz; Costa-Gavras socially conscious drama Eden Is West; Xavier Dolan's I Killed My Mother, one of the Toronto Film Festival's best Canadian films of the year; and Marco Bellocchio's Vincere, about Mussolini's first wife (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) and child (Filippo Timi).
Some of the titles, e.g., A Prophet, The White Ribbon, are also in the running for the best foreign language film Academy Award. Some have already won awards elsewhere, both in the US and overseas.
For instance, the aforementioned The White Ribbon won the Palme d'Or and A Prophet took home the Grand Prix at Cannes. Ajami won five awards — including best film and best director — from the Israeli Film Academy, while City of Life and Death was voted best film at San Sebastian, The Maid earned star Catalina Saavedra the breakthrough performance award at the Gothams, and Can Not Live Without You won the Golden Horse for best picture.
One curiosity: London River, listed as an Algerian production, was directed by a Parisian-born filmmaker (Rachid Bouchareb), was mostly financed by French companies, and stars a British performer (Brenda Blethyn) and a Malinese (Sotigui Kouyaté) in a tale set in London.
Unlike the Oscars, the competition for the Golden Globes is between films, not countries. That's something the Academy should consider.
And here's wondering why the announcement of the best foreign language film longlist was made so close to the date when the nominations themselves are announced. It's not like HFPA members will have time to watch many (or any, depending on the voting deadline) of those films.
Here's the complete list:
About Elly, Iran
Ajami, Israel
Baaria, Italy
Backyard, Mexico
Broken Embraces, Spain
Broken Promise, Slovak Republic
Can Not Live Without You, Taiwan
Cell 211, Spain
Chameleon, Hungary
Chandni Chowk to China, India
Chilango Chronicles, Mexico
City of Life and Death, China
Coco Before Chanel, France
The Dancer and the Thief, Spain
Dawson, Island 10, Chile
A Day At The Museum, France
Delhi-6, India
Donkey, Croatia
Eden Is West, France
For a Moment, Freedom, Austria / France
I Galantuomini, Italy
The Girl on the Train, France
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Sweden
God's Offices, France / Belgium
Grandpa is Dead, Philippines
Grown Ups, France / Sweden
Harishchandrachi Factory, India
Hello Goodbye, France / Israel / Italy
Hipsters, Russia
I Killed My Mother, Canada
I Saw the Sun, Turkey
Il Grande Sogno, Italy
John Rabe, Germany
Lebanon, Israel
Letters to Father Jacob, Finland
London River, Algeria
Louise-Michel, France / Belgium / Luxembourg
Made in Hungaria, Hungary
The Maid, Chile
Max Manus, Norway
Micmacs, France
The Misfortunates, Belgium
Mother, Korea
My Queen Karo, Belgium
Nobody to Watch Over Me, Japan
Police, Adjective, Romania
Prank, Hungary
Prince of Tears, Hong Kong / Taiwan
A Prophet, France
Protektor, Czech Republic
Queen to Play, France / Germany
Refractaire (Draft Dodgers), Luxembourg
Reverse, Poland
The Road From Elephant Pass, Sri Lanka
Rudo and Cursi, Mexico
Samson & Delilah, Australia
The Secret of her Eyes, Argentina
Secrets of State, France
Someone I Loved, France / Belgium / Italy
Southern District, Bolivia
Terribly Happy, Denmark
Thirst, South Korea
Vincere, Italy
The Waltz, Italy
Ward No. 6, Russia
Welcome, France
The White Ribbon, Germany
Winter in Wartime, The Netherlands
With a Little Help From Myself, France
Nominations for 2010 Golden Globe Awards will be announced at 5:00 a.m. PT on Tuesday, December 15.
Hosted by Ricky Gervais, the 2010 Golden Globe Awards ceremony will be broadcast live coast to coast Sunday, January 17, on NBC (5 to 8 pm PT, 8 to 11 pm ET) from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.