Oscar 2010: Early Predictions – Best Foreign Language Film

Best Foreign Language Film

Baaria, Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy)
An autobiographical tale set in the director’s Sicilian hometown

Forever Enthralled, Chen Kaige (China)
Biopic chronicling the life of Mei Lanfang, China’s greatest opera star.

I Killed My Mother, Xavier Dolan (Canada)
A young gay man has some serious issues with his mother.

A Prophet, Jacques Audiard (France)
Prison drama in which a young hood learns what it takes to reach the top of that small (and nasty) world.

The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke (Germany)
As a prelude to both World War I and World War II, a German village unexpectedly becomes the setting of numerous acts of cruelty.

Quality (much like fairness) is in the brain of the judge. (Of course, if we’re lucky enough to have a judge [...]

Oscar 2010: Best Foreign Language Film, Short Film Deadline

The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke (top); I Killed My Mother by Xavier Donlan (middle); Police, Adjective by Corneliu Porumboiu (bottom)

The deadline to submit entries in the Live Action Short Film, Animated Short Film and Foreign Language Film categories to be considered for the 82nd Academy Awards: Thursday, October 1.
Complete entries must arrive at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by 5 p.m. PT that day.
As per the Academy’s press release, "in the short film categories, filmmakers must submit an entry form, one film print or copy in an approved digital format, and all other required materials by the deadline.
"In the Foreign Language Film category, filmmakers must submit entry forms, [...]

I KILLED MY MOTHER d: Xavier Dolan

J’ai tué ma mère / I Killed My Mother (2009)
Direction and Screenplay: Xavier Dolan
Cast: Xavier Dolan, Anne Dorval, François Arnaud, Suzanne Clément
 

 

Xavier Dolan’s semi-autobiographical J’ai tué ma mère / I Killed My Mother has been getting a lot of attention, mostly because Dolan is 19 and has won three awards at Cannes for his first film. A former child actor, Dolan spent some of his acting money to make this film about an adolescent (played by himself) who hates his mother.
I really wanted to like I Killed My Mother because it’s Canadian and made by such a young fellow. I even thought Dolan could be the Canadian Orson Welles! But he’s not, and I Killed My Mother [...]

2009 Cannes Winners II

Cannes 2009 Winners: Part I
Among the other Cannes festival winners at the various sidebars and competitions were:

Best short Arena (above, top), directed by João Salaviza. Arena, the only Portuguese production in competition at the festival, tells the story of a young man under house arrest.
Xavier Dolan’s J’ai tué ma mère / I Killed My Mother (above, lower photo) won the Directors Fortnight best film prize. In this Canadian growing-pains tale, a 16-year-old gay man (played by the then 19-year-old Dolan) learns something about life all the while despising his mother’s manipulative behavior and tacky taste in clothes.
Nassim Amaouche’s Adieu Gary / Farewell Gary, winner of the Critics’ Week best film award, chronicles the lives of several [...]