Wide acclaim and a handful of top European Film Awards didn't help Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah land a spot in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' list of best foreign-language film semi-finalists.
And in case you're looking for Let the Right One In among the nine films still in the running, you won't find it there. Although the Swedish vampire drama was chosen the best foreign-language film of the year by numerous US-based critics' groups, it was ineligible for the Oscars simply because each country can submit only one film per year: Sweden's choice for 2008 was Jan Troell's Everlasting Moments.
The nine semi-finalists — out of 65 (accepted) foreign-language film submissions — are (listed in alphabetical order by country):
Austria, Revanche, Gotz Spielmann, director;
Canada, The Necessities of Life, Benoit Pilon, director;
France, The Class, Laurent Cantet, director;
Germany, The Baader Meinhof Complex, Uli Edel, director;
Israel, Waltz with Bashir, Ari Folman, director;
Japan, Departures, Yojiro Takita, director;
Mexico, Tear This Heart Out, Roberto Sneider, director;
Sweden, Everlasting Moments, Jan Troell, director;
Turkey, 3 Monkeys, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director.
In the last three or so years, the foreign-language film nominees have been chosen in two phases:
The Phase I committee, consisting of "several hundred" Los Angeles-based members (usually of very advanced age), vote on the 65 eligible films. How many of those "several hundred" members actually sit through as many as, say, 15 or 20 of those films, is anyone's guess. (I've been to foreign-language film Academy screenings attended by thirty or so people, some — many? — of whom, like myself, were not voting members.)
This year, for the first time, the Phase I committee was allowed to make only six choices. (They failed to select Cannes Film Festival winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days last year and were thus — rightfully — punished; needless to say, the Academy wouldn't phrase it that way.) The other three semi-finalists were handpicked by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, chaired by producer Mark Johnson.
During the upcoming Phase II, the shortlist will be streamlined so that only five films — the official nominees — will remain in the running. Those will be selected by committees, comprising about two dozen or so members, in New York and Los Angeles. The committee members will spend this Friday, Saturday and Sunday viewing three films each day. Tough luck for the third film each evening.
Despite all the band-aids used to fix the foreign-language film nomination process, that category remains a joke. The omission of both Gomorrah and Let the Right One In are akin to, say, WALL-E not getting a best animated feature nod or Slumdog Millionaire failing to receive a best picture or a best director nod.
I should point out that the issue here is not a matter of taste. Instead, it's a matter of inane, downright stupid regulations that prevent many excellent films from even having a chance at landing a nomination.
The 2009 Academy Award nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The Academy Awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. In the US, the Oscarcast will be televised live by ABC.
TONY MANERO IS GREAT! BETTER THAN SATURDAY NIGHT FEVOR OR PULP FICTION.
Tony Manero should also have made the cut. There are other movies that I'm sure were excellent that didn't make it. The whole Academy membership should be allowed to vote. Not just a few ancient jerks who probably fall asleep during the movies anyways.