87th Academy Awards Foreign Language Film Submissions

October 10th, 2014

Yesterday the Academy published the list with a record eighty-three films submitted for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category with Malta, Mauritania, Panama and Kosovo being first-time entrants.

According to AMPAS news the published list are still submissions which somehow makes me wonder IF all will be accepted as seems that there are a few films that have a foreign language but also English and IF English is spoken above the acceptable quota, film will be disqualified. Perhaps soon we will learn if there will be or not films with too much English spoken.


Also was reading news from China that tells that submitted film has NOT been premiered in China, yet; well, perhaps film had the 7-days qualifying requirement but now I am just wondering...

Will update if necessary according to news, but now we truly have to consider that Academy members have the surmountable task of watching 83 films in less than two work-days months! Which means more than two films per day! I will LOVE to watch all the films but not even me with my passion for good cinema have the time and energy to watch all those films in that amount of time. So, I ask, what will the Academy do to be fair to all films submitted? Increase the number of members of the Foreign Language committee? Allow at least five different people watching each film? What? Doubt the Academy will explain detailed procedure, but have no doubt that task will be a bit harder than last year.

Nevertheless this is a GREAT list with films from all over the world, many films are must be seen by those that love great cinema, other films seem can be entertaining and the rest perhaps you and I can skip watching.

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October 6th, 2014

Soon will update post with my comments but will not change post date as if I do links from other web sites will be broken. Not all Blogger changes are positive and not able to keep post name the same when you only change post date is not good. Sigh.

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See previous comments at end of post.

Submission deadline for Foreign Language Film is Wednesday, October 1st, 2014 by 5pm PT. The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015 and about a week before organizers will announce the short list of nine (9).

As in previous years in parenthesis will include the festival where film was screened plus the director's name will be in BLUE when is a female director.

Afghanistan: فیلمِ سینمایی چند متر مکعب عشق Chand Metre Moka’ab Eshgh (A Few Cubic Meters of Love), Jamshid Mahmoudi
Argentina: Relatos Salvajes (Wild Tales), Damián Szifrón (Cannes)
Australia: Charlie's Country, Rolf de Heer (Cannes)
Austria: Das Finstere Tal (The Dark Valley), Andreas Prochaska (Berlinale)
Azerbaijan: Nabat, Elchin Musaoglu (Biennale Orizzonti)

Bangladesh: জোনাকির আলো Jonakir Alo (Glow of Firefly), Khalid Mahmood Mithu
Belgium: Deux Jours, Une Nuit (Two Days, One Night), Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardene (Cannes)
Bolivia: Olvidados, Carlos Bolado
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sa mamom (With Mom), Faruka Lončarevića (2013 SarajevoFF)
Brazil: Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho (The Way He Looks), Daniel Ribeiro (Berlinale Teddy Award winner)
Bulgaria: българска рапсодия Bulgasrska Rapsodia (Bulgarian Rhapsody), Ivan Nitchev

Canada: Mommy, Xavier Dolan (Cannes Jury Prize winner)
Chile: Matar a un Hombre (To Kill a Man), Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Rotterdam IFF KNF Award winner and Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner)
China: 夜莺 Ye Ying (The Nightingale), Philippe Muyl
Colombia: Mateo, María Gamboa
Costa Rica: Princesas Rojas (Red Princesses), Laura Astorga (Berlinale 2013 )
Croatia: Kauboji (Cowboys), Tomislava Mršića (Pula)
Cuba: Conducta (Behavior), Ernesto Daranas
Czech Republic: Fair Play, Andrea Sedlácková (Karlovy Vary)

Denmark: Sorg og glæde (Sorrow and Joy), Nils Malmros (Rotterdam IFF)
Dominican Republic: Cristo Rey, Leticia Tonos

Ecuador: Silencio en la tierra de los sueños (Silence in Dreamland), Tito Molina
Egypt: فتاة المصنع Fatat el masnaa (Factory Girl), Mohamed Khan
Estonia: Mandariinid (Tangerines), Zaza Urushadze (Tallinn Black Nights)
Ethiopia: Difret, Zeresenay Berhane Mehari (Berlinale Panorama)

Finland: Betoniyö (Concrete Night), Pirjo Honkasalo (Göteborg)
France: Saint Laurent, Bertrand Bonello (Cannes)

Georgia: სიმინდის კუნძული Simindis kundzuli (Corn Island), George Ovashvili (Karlovy Vary Crystal Globe winner)
Germany: Die geliebten Schwestern (Beloved Sisters), Dominik Graf (Berlinale)
Greece: Μικρά Αγγλία Mikra Anglia (Little England), Pantelis Voulgaris (Shanghai IFF Golden Goblet Award winner)

Hong Kong: 黄金时代 Huang jin shi dai (The Golden Era), Ann Hui (Biennale)
Hungary: Fehér isten (White God), Kornél Mundruczó (Cannes Un Certain Regard award winner)

Iceland: Vonarstræti (Life in a Fishbowl), Baldvin Zophoníasson
India: लायर्स डाइस Liar's Dice, Geetu Mohandas (Rotterdam)
Indonesia: Soekarno: Indonesia Merdeka (Soekarno), Hanung Bramantyo
Iran: امروز Emrouz (Today), Seyyed Reza Mirkarimi
Iraq: مردان Mardan, Batin Ghobadi
Ireland: An Bronntanas (The Gift), Tom Collins
Israel: גט Gett (Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem), Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabet (Cannes Directors' Fornight)
Italy: Il Capitale Umano (Human Capital), Paolo Virzì

Japan: そこのみにて光輝く Soko nomi nite hikari kagayaku (The Light Shines Only There), Mipo Oh (Montreal WFF Best Director winner)

Kosovo: Tri dritare dhe një varje (Three Windows and a Hanging), Isa Qosja (SarajevoFF)
Kyrgyzstan: Құрманжан Датқа Kurmanjan Datka (Kurmanjan Datka Queen of the Mountains), Sadyk Sher-Niyaz (Montreal)

Latvia: Akmeņi manās kabatās (Rocks in My Pockets), Signe Baumane (animation) (Karlovy Vary)
Lebanon: غدي Ghadi, Amin Dora
Lithuania: Lošėjas (The Gambler), Ignas Jonynas (Tallin Black Nights 2013)
Luxembourg: Never Die Young, Pol Cruchten (documentary)

Macedonia: До балчак Do Balcak (To the Hilt), Stole Popov
Malta: Simshar, Rebecca Cremona
Mauritania: Timbuktu, Abderrahmane Sissako (Cannes)
Mexico: Cantinflas, Sebastián del Amo
Moldova: La limita de jos a cerului (The Unsaved), Igor Cobileanski (Karlovy Vary 2013 - FIPRESCI award winner at CottbusIFF)
Montenegro: Dječaci iz Ulice Marksa i Engelsa (The Boys from Marx and Engels Street), Nikole Vukčevića
Morocco: القمر الأحمر La Lune Rouge (The Red Moon), Hassan Benjelloun

Nepal: ‘झोला’ Jhola, Yadav Kumar Bhattarai
Netherlands: Lucia de B. (Accused), Paula van der Oest
New Zealand: The Dead Lands, Toa Fraser
Norway: 1001 gram (1001 Grams), Bent Hamer

Pakistan: دختر، بیٹی Dukhtar (Daughter), Afia Nathaniel
Palestine: عيون الحرامية Eyes of a Thief, Najwa Najjar
Panama: Invasión (Invasion), Abner Benaim (documentary)
Peru: El Evangelio de la Carne (The Gospel of the Flesh), Eduardo Mendoza de Echave
Philippines: Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan (Norte, the End of History), Lav Diaz (Cannes Un Certain Regard)
Poland: Ida, Pawel Pawlikowski (London Film Festival)
Portugal: E Agora? Lembra-me (What Now? Remind Me), Joaquim Pinto (documentary) (Locarno 2013)

Romania: Câinele Japonez (The Japanese Dog), Tudor Cristian Jurgiu (San Sebastian 2013)
Russia: Левиафан Leviathan, Andrey Zvyagintsev (Cannes)

Serbia: Montevideo, vidimo se! (See You in Montevideo), Dragana Bjelogrlića
Singapore: Sayang disayang (My Beloved Dearest), Sanif Olek
Slovakia: Krok do tmy (A Step Into The Dark), Miloslav Luther (Montreal)
Slovenia: Zapelji me (Seduce Me), Marko Šantić (Warsaw IFF 2013)
South Africa: Elelwani, Ntshaveni Wa Luruli
South Korea: 해무 Haemoo (Sea Fog), Shim Sung-bo
Spain: Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados (Living is Easy with Eyes Closed), David Trueba
Sweden: Turist (Force Majeure), Ruben Östlund (Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury Prize winner)
Switzerland: Der Kreis (The Circle), Stefan Haupt (Berlinale-Teddy Award for Best Documentary winner)

Taiwan: 冰毒 Bing du (Ice Poison), Midi Z (Berlinale-Panorama)
Thailand: คิดถึงวิทยา Khid thueng withaya (Teacher's Diary), Nithiwat Tharathorn
Turkey: Kış Uykusu (Winter Sleep), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Cannes Palm d'Or Winner)

UK: Uzun Yol (Little Happiness), Nihat Seven
Ukraine: Поводырь Povodyr (The Guide), Oles Sanin
Uruguay: Mr. Kaplan, Alvaro Brechner

Venezuela: Libertador (The Liberator), Alberto Arvelo

Watch trailers @MOC and to see movie posters go to Storyteller tumblr.

To check original announcements go to Pinterest 2015 Oscar Foreign Film Category here.



Comments
From 9/7/14
With 20+ submissions we can clearly see that this year the Academy's Foreign Language Film Award committee members will have an incredible good cinema feast as they will be able to savor the best of the best of Cannes 2014 plus more festival award winners that we know have high quality filmmaking and add more films by very well-known directors as the icing in a very big cake. Oh yes, this year I really wish I was a member of this committee.

We still have 50+ countries that have to announce their submissions, so I am expecting more Cannes and other major world festivals films coming to enhance this incredible good list of great films, all in one place for a few men (think there is no woman in the committee) to see.

We know that is not easy to guess what committee members like as from previous years, the shortlist of nine films always has one, two or more films that makes you wonder the committee criteria to have them in the shortlist and to ignore excellent films. But we always have hope that with the still "new" procedure, this year the shortlist of nine will include many of the films that have already been announced as they have great above the average filmmaking quality. If it was for me the shortlist of nine already has six films that for sure HAVE to be in there, can you guess them?

Not everything is good news as we already have a couple of controversies with young filmmakers protesting Bulgaria selection as seems that the "old" traditions prevail against industry favorites from younger filmmakers. Selection film director actually is a member of the council that selects the submission, so in a way as a twitter says: "he selected himself". Still, there are many that celebrate decision as believe film will get a nomination. Sigh.

But for us World cinema lovers this list will always represent the opportunity to know and hopefully eventually see the best cinema from all over the world, especially from those countries that with their Oscar submission actually are promoting their local cinema. Cheers!

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From 8/4/14
The first Monday in August brings us the first country to announce its submission: Turkey. As many -including me- were expecting Turkey sent the Cannes Palm d'Or winner Winter Sleep by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

As far as I can tell there are no major changes to Rule Thirteen Special Rules for the Foreign Language Film Award, but here are some highlight from Rule 13.

Definition: A foreign language film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States of America with a predominately non-English dialogue track.

Eligibility (extract): Films that, in any version, receive a nontheatrical public exhibition or distribution before their first qualifying theatrical release will not be eligible for Academy Awards consideration. Nontheatrical public exhibition or distribution includes but is not limited to: Broadcast and cable television, PPV/VOD, DVD distribution, Internet transmission.

Voting (extract): All submissions sent to the Academy will be screened by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Committee(s). After the screenings, the committee(s) will vote by secret ballot to nominate five foreign language motion pictures for this award. Final voting for the Foreign Language Film award shall be restricted to active and life Academy members who have viewed all five motion pictures nominated for the award.