Oscar 2008: 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS of Outrage

Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

In the LA Weekly, Scott Foundas wonders, "How do you say ‘Oscar scandal’ in Romanian"?
Oscar scandaliu perhaps?
I mean, for Zeus’ sake, even Scott Foundas’ own mother liked Cristian Mungiu’s widely praised Cannes Film Festival winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Why didn’t those Academy voters who pick the potential nominees for best foreign-language film feel the same way?
Why indeed.
I generally find the Academy’s choices pathetic, but that organization’s best foreign-language film voters make its best picture voters seem like arbiters of cinematic quality. (Of course, I know that taste is personal, etc., etc., but the loads of money poured into Oscar vote-buying and all the internal politicking [...]

by Andre Soares | January 16, 2008   
| Subscribe / Syndicate
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Oscar-Winning Foreign Language Films Poster Exhibition

Next January, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be presenting "From Amarcord to Z: Posters from Fifty Years of Foreign Language Film Award Winners." The exhibition will open to the public in the Academy’s Grand Lobby Gallery on January 19, 2007. Admission is free.
The art work is generally superb, and so are some of the films that have won the best foreign language film Academy Award in the last 50 years. Actually, one could say 60 years, for the very first best foreign language film Oscar was handed out to Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine, from Italy, in 1947.
In the ten years that followed, however, Oscars for non-English-language films remained a special — and not necessarily [...]

by Andre Soares | December 12, 2006   
| Subscribe / Syndicate
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Oscar 2005: Best Foreign-Language Film Entries (Croatia to Malaysia)

Oscar 2005: Best Foreign-Language Film Entries (Afghanistan to China)

Croatia, Long Dark Night, Antun Vrdoljak, director;

Czech Republic, Up and Down, Jan Hrebejk, director;

Denmark, The Five Obstructions, Jørgen Leth and Lars von Trier, directors;

Ecuador, Chronicles, Sebastián Cordero, director;

Egypt, I Love Cinema, Oussama Fawzy, director;

Estonia, Revolution of Pigs, Jaak Kilmi and René Reinumägik, directors;

Finland, Producing Adults, Aleksi Salmenperä, director;

France, The Chorus, Christophe Barratier, director;

Germany, Downfall, Oliver Hirschbiegel, director;

Greece, A Touch of Spice, Tassos Boulmetis, director;

Hungary, Kontroll, Nimród Antal, director;

Iceland, Cold Light, Hilmar Oddsson, director;

India, Shwaas, Sandeep Sawant, director;

Iran, Turtles Can Fly, Bahman Ghobadi, director;

Israel, Campfire, Joseph Cedar, director;

Italy, The Keys to the House, Gianni Amelio, director;

Japan, Nobody Knows, Hirokazu Kore-eda, director;

Korea, Tae Guk Gi, Kang Je-gyu, director;

Macedonia, [...]

by Andre Soares | November 15, 2004   
| Subscribe / Syndicate
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Oscar 2005: Best Foreign-Language Film Entries (Afghanistan to China)

Of the 49 films submitted for the 2005 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, 8 are from the Americas, 2 from Africa, 12 from Asia, and 27 from Europe.
This is the first time that Malaysia has submitted a film for the Oscars. The Princess of Mount Ledang / A Legendary Love, the story of the forbidden romance between a 15th-century Javanese Hindu princess and a Malay Muslim warrior, is the most expensive Malaysian film ever made.
Iran’s Turtles Can Fly won the Best Picture Golden Shell at the San Sebastián Film Festival. Gianni Amelio’s The House Keys was a Venice Film Festival favorite. Its failure to win any important awards led to [...]

by Andre Soares | November 15, 2004   
| Subscribe / Syndicate
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,