These are the sixty-three (63) films that will compete for the Best Foreign Language film in the 84th Academy Awards.Albania: Amnistia (Amnesty), Bujar Alimani
Argentina: Aballay, el hombre sin miedo (Aballay), Fernando Spiner
Austria: Atmen (Breathing), Karl Markovics
Belgium: Rundskop (Bullhead), Michaël R. Roskam
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Belvedere, Ahmed Imamović
Brazil: Tropa de Elite 2 (Elite Squad: The Enemy Within), José Padilha
Bulgaria: Тилт Tilt, Viktor Chuchkov Jr.
Canada: Monsieur Lazhar, Philippe Falardeau
Chile: Violeta Se Fue a los Cielos (Violeta Went to Heaven), Andrés Wood
China: 金陵十三釵 (The Flowers of War), Zhang Yimou
Colombia: Los Colores de la Montaña (The Colors of the Mountain), Carlos César Arbeláez
Croatia: Sedamdeset i dva dana (72 days), Danilo Serbedzija
Cuba: Habanastation, Ian Padrón
Czech Republic: Alois Nebel, Tomás Lunák (animated film)
Denmark: SuperClásico, Ole Christian Madsen
Dominican Republic: La Hija Natural (Love Child), Leticia Tonos
Egypt: الشوق El-Shouq (Lust), Khaled El-Hagar
Estonia: Kirjad Inglile (Letters to Angel), Sulev Keedus
Finland: Le Havre, Aki Kaurismäki
France: La guerre est déclarée (Declaration of War), Valérie Donzelli (Good movie, a lot better than what I imagined; a little bit uneven, last half not as good as first)
Georgia: Chantrapras, Otar Iosseliani
Germany: Pina, Wim Wenders (is a documentary - NO, this is no doc even when documents dance, it's really BEAUTIFUL to watch plus you'll feel lots of emotions! Fantastic film.)
Greece: Attenberg, Athina Rachel Tsangari (A strange movie/story yet was fascinating for me.)
Hong Kong: 桃姐 Tao jie (A Simple Life), Ann Hui
Hungary: A Torinói ló (The Turin Horse), Béla Tarr
Iceland: Eldfjall (Volcano), Rúnar Rúnarsson
India: ആദാമിന്റെ മകൻ അബു Adaminte Makan Abu (Abu, Son of Adam), Salim Ahamed
Indonesia: Di Bawah Lindungan Ka'bah (Under the Protection of Ka'Bah), Hanny R Saputra
Iran: جدایی نادر از سیمین Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (Nader and Simin, A Separation), Asghar Farhadi (Very Good movie, excellent essay on normal life, bravo Master Farhadi!)
Ireland: As If I Am Not There, Juanita Wilson (Very HARD-to-watch story in a good movie with good performances which makes film harder to watch.)
Israel: הערת שוליים (Footnote), Joseph Cedar
Italy: Terraferma, Emanuele Crialese
Japan: 一枚のハガキ Ich-mai no Hagaki (Postcard), Kaneto Shindō
Kazakhstan: Возвращение в "А" (Return to "A"), Egor Konchalovsky
Lebanon: وهلّأ لوين؟ Wo Hallah La Wen? (Where Do We Go Now?), Nadine Labaki
Lithuania: Kai Apkabinsiu Tave (Back in Your Arms), Kristijonas Vildžiūnas
Macedonia: Панкот не е мртов Pankot ne e mrtov (Punk's Not Dead), Vladimir Blazevski
Mexico: Miss Bala, Gerado Naranjo (It's an okay movie less violent than I imagined whilst easier to watch)
Morocco: Omar m'a tuer (Omar Killed Me), Roschdy Zem
Netherlands: Sonny Boy, Maria Peters
New Zealand: O Le Tulafale (The Orator), Tusi Tamasese
Norway: Sykt lykkelig (Happy, Happy), Anne Sewitsky (Interesting human behavior essay, dark funny)
Peru: Octubre (October), Diego and Daniel Vega
Philippines: Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank (The Woman in the Septic Tank), Marlon Rivera
Poland: W ciemności (In Darkness), Agnieszka Holland
Portugal: José e Pilar (Jose and Pilar), Miguel Goncalves Mendes (documentary)
Romania: Morgen, Marian Crisan
Russia: Утомлённые солнцем 2: Цитадель Utomlyonnye Solntsem 2 (Burnt by the Sun 2: The Citadel), Nikita Mikhalkov
Serbia: Montevideo, bog te video (Montevideo: Taste of a Dream), Dragan Bjelogrlić
Singapore: Tatsumi, Erick Khoo
Slovakia: Cigán (Gypsy), Martin Šulík
South Africa: Shookheid (Beauty), Oliver Hermanus
South Korea: 고지전 Go-ji-jeon (The Front Line), Jang Hun
Spain: Pa Negre (Black Bread), Agustí Villaronga (An okay movie with an okay story, nothing special)
Sweden: Svinalängorna (Beyond), Pernilla August
Switzerland: Giochi d'estate (Summer Games), Rolando Colla
Taiwan: 賽德克．巴萊 Saideke Balai (Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale), Wei Te-Sheng
Thailand: คนโขน Kon Khon, Sarunyu Wongkrachang
Turkey: Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
United Kingdom: Patagonia, Marc Evans
Uruguay: La Casa Muda (The Silent House), Gustavo Hernández
Venezuela: El Rumor de las Piedras (The Rumble of the Stones), Alejandro Bellame
Vietnam: Khát vọng Thăng Long (The Prince and the Pagoda Boy), Lưu Trọng Ninh
Watch 62 trailers @MOC Poland doesn't have trailer yet.
Updates Comments
An unexpected update but suddenly the AMPAS Best Foreign Language Film Award Screening Schedule became available and with some unexpected surprises as seems Slovenia's silent Circus Fantasticus is NOT in the list that has 63 films (two less than in previous years).
As expected Albania changed their submission, Georgia has the expected submission, and new to the list are Estonia, Indonesia and UK. Not expected but predictable Russia kept their original submission and in a positive turn of events, the Academy allowed the Dominican Republic submission.
Between today and tomorrow the Academy has to publish their official list and ONLY then this post will become final.
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10/4
The last update before final has 58 countries submitting a film that had some kind of promotion in local media or industry media; then add one more (Georgia) that haven't been able to find info to make the total to 59, odd number, isn't? Should be 60, but up-to-this moment there are no new announcements. I still expect the number to reach 65 and soon we will learn the final list that the Academy will release within the following two weeks.
This year I have the impression that there are TOO many good films, some I have seen so know they're good (a few exceptions that I don't understand how they made it to this list) and other haven't seen them yet but are from directors I highly appreciate as great filmmakers.
I know is kind of crazy (so early) to speculate about the films that will make it to the shortlist of nine, but here is my nine film wishlist and I really hope they make it.
Germany with Pina, Finland with Le Havre, Iran with A Separation, China with The Flowers of War, Lebanon with Where do we go now?, Mexico with Miss Bala, Turkey with Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Sweden with Beyond, and Iceland with Volcano. As a matter of fact today my Oscar goes to Pina!!! Yes, what a marvelous film truly deserves the award.
For a change there is one film that I'm not really looking forward to see, France's submission as story, style and the I-can't-forget reference of being in La Semaine de la Critique, make film not attractive to me.
Soon this post will become final and we will know if Russia changed the submission, Albania retains its submission, and Georgia submitted a French production -which is most likely as Morroco did it too.
Cheers!!!
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9/23
A new update as today we reached the 40th mark with up-to-this-moment forty (40)films. Past years there has been 65 submissions, so we can estimate that we still get around 25 more.
But what really calls my attention is the many festival movies that are being submitted; from Cannes 2010 there are 2, Cannes 2011 - 7, Venice 2010 - 2, Venice 2011 - 1, and Berlin 2011 - 3; for a total of 15 films out of 40. Also there are many (yes, many WHEN we compare it to previous years) that have gay or lesbian interest and not often in this list we have the Queer Palm winner, so I'm glad for this -small- milestone in LGTB cinema.
In about a week is the submission deadline, so this coming week should be also with many announcements.
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9/14
As list will grow larger soon had to do the first update to have the post above all the others (lol!) as not everyone knows that in the second column there is ALWAYS a link to this post for the easiest access.
I'm very puzzled with Iran's announcement a few days back, seems was not official -that's why they deleted all the news-; then Variety confirmed the news, but today in Iranian press the news that there are three films shortlisted. I do believe the Golden Bear winner deserves the honor, but let's see what Iranian authorities finally decide.
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9/1
The American Award Season is “around the corner” so it’s no surprise to find my first movie submitted to Oscar 2012. I say my first as imagine that surely now that I’ll start to look for information I’ll find more, but for today this is the first confirmed movie submitted to Oscar.
So my favorite yearly post begins today with many more submissions and one film with lesbian interest... fantastic!
Hey!! I am like the biggest fan of this site..I love reading about all your updates and love your Oscar Foreign Language Film Submissions blog..but I really wanted to know how is it possible for me to actually watch these movies. I have tried Movie Stores and Online but didn't find any of the listed movies. Please let me know! Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteHey, two things I can tell you... first, patience -which is a virtue- and second learn as many languages as you can... :)
ReplyDeleteSomething very interesting and suspenseful is going on with the election of the submission from Argentina. The strongest contenders Medianeras (Sidewalls) and Las Acacias may be ineligible because of the local release date. And the dark horse The Student, shot in HD, is not being shown in a 35mm copy in theaters, therefore the Argentinean Academy contacted the Hollywood Academy to see if it will qualify anyways. All this means that the selected film is going to be announced on the last day of September or on October the 1st if The Student makes the list.
ReplyDeleteHere the latest news on the submission from Argentina
ReplyDeletehttp://www.otroscines.com/noticias_detalle.php?idnota=5751
http://www.otroscines.com/noticias_detalle.php?idnota=5747
Thanks joylit, news are very interesting let's hope a great film is nominated... :)
ReplyDeleteThe latest news is that the Hollywood Academy stated that Santiago Mitre's The Student would qualify for submission for a foreign Oscar because the independently produced movie was exhibited in international festivals with DCP support. The announcement of the candidate for Argentina will be made on October the 3rd. more news here
ReplyDeletehttp://www.otroscines.com/noticias_detalle.php?idnota=5757
Is a true saga... let's see what voters do... but yes it's interesting how the site "helped" to generate the situation... still most interesting are the comments at the bottom ... so we will learn the Argentinean submission until late October 3rd... hmm.
ReplyDeleteSingapore sent "Tatsumi", meaning we have two animated films in the race.
ReplyDeleteHey dzong2, yes this year there are MANY very interesting films and some unusual genres: 2 animation films, one not easy to define (Pina), documentaries, etc. Let's see what the Academy members do this year... hope they take good/not-controversial decisions... :)
ReplyDeleteOh, there are controversies already!....Some within Albanian and Russia are already calling for their films to be disqualified (in Albania by the sore losers....in Russia by people who fear the process was biased/corrupt)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I found out today that Georgia selected "Chantrapas", but I don't have a weblink source for it.
I know, been reading about Albania, he was disqualified with Colombia submission a few years back, so imagine that has to happen the same now... Russia, they should really change submission, but politics politics are all over... Argentina had its share of trouble, so will announce submission the same day of the deadline (lol!)..
ReplyDeleteSeems that "non-reliable" sources are publishing Chantrapas as Georgia submission... but this is a French production maybe will not be eligible IF is confirmed by more reliable sources...
The pre candidates for Argentina are "Un Cuento Chino" (Chinese take away), "Viudas" (Widows), "Cerro Bayo" (Mount Bayo) "Los Marziano" (The Marzianos)and "El Estudiante" ("The Student")
ReplyDelete@joylit, thanks for the shortlist, most are expecting El Estudiante to be chosen, but in about 3 hours we'll learn the one. The Argentinean Academy will stream live the event, if you wish to watch it use link at top of post. :)
ReplyDeleteIt seems I did not have all the pre candidateds because "Aballay", a spaghetti western that pays homage to the movies of Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone was selected. Actally
ReplyDeleteI could have supported this choice becuse this is a movie shot northern Argentina (Tucuman), where
I am from. The review by Variety is pretty good, and the trailer can be found on youtube.
Thank you for the updates....I think you are being hard on Georgia. At least Otar Iossalini is a Georgian, whereas Roschdy Zem is born and raised in France (although he is admittedly a dual citizen of Morocco).
ReplyDeleteAccording to Variety, the Oscars has made the first disqualification, and it's "Love Child" from the Dominican Republic, which had some strange problem with its selection committee not being approved by AMPAS. So sad, since the Dominicans hadn't sent a film in more than ten years...
I'm pretty sure we will see films from Costa Rica, Estonia, Greenland, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and others on the final list...
@dzong2, as you expected there are films from Indonesia, Estonia and Kazahstan... UK film seems visually stunning and AMPAS decided to accept the Dominican Republic submission...
ReplyDeleteYeah, Georgia submission was accepted and now in some key sites already rushed to change production from France only to France and Georgia production (LOL!).
Hope tomorrow AMPAS publish their list.... :)
the philippines' entry looks really good... variety reviewed it as part of the busan international film fest and it was really complimentary... i hope this pulls through... have a look at this youtube clip from the film..eugene domingo at her best!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IKH1KXS_s0
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117946377/
I saw the Indonesian entry recently. It was amazing. Under The Protection of Ka'Bah.
ReplyDeleteI found the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWpGWj7oyH8
Thanks for your comments and videos you can ALSO watch trailers from ALL films but one at the MOC trailers sister blog. :)
ReplyDeleteCheck out New Zealand's entry - THE ORATOR (endorsed by Peter Jackson director Lord of the rings, lovely bones) - An underdog, but very likely to win this category with all the awards they've received already in Venice and internationally. A great story all filmed in Samoa in the Samoan language.. here is the trailer
ReplyDeleteEgypt's el-Shouq deserves to make the final list for the Oscar this year. It's based on a great short story in Arabic by Sayed Ragab, who also acts in the film.
ReplyDeleteJodaeiye Nader az Simin( Nader and Simin, a separation) is one of the best movies that I have ever seen in my life. I have to say good job to Asghar Farhadi and all the team of Nader and Simin, A separation.
ReplyDeleteIt made me cry, but I love this movie. Even if you don't understand the language of this movie, It will make you cry. Its all about human emotions...
yes P, absolutely agree with you, A Separation has a very Universal story, is a family story that touches people all over the world ... is not a local Iranian story even when is set there; but movie will not be as good if it wasn't for Asghar Farhadi master abilities, suggest you check his previous movies (Fireworks Wednesday and About Elly) that also have universal appealing situations. :)
ReplyDelete