The Paper's reporter Cheng Xiaojun
Five months before the 94th Academy Awards, which will take place on March 27 next year. However, November 1 is the deadline for countries to declare the Oscar for Best International Film (the previous "Oscar best foreign language film"). As of press time, a total of 75 countries or regions have submitted entries this year.
November 1 is the deadline for countries to declare the Oscar for Best International Film (formerly the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film).
At present, there are two Chinese-language films in the selection, namely "Mama's Magic Boy" representing Hong Kong, China, and "Waterfall", which represents Taiwan. "Mama's Magic Boy" is based on the real story of Paralympic champion Su Huawei, starring Wu Junru, Liang Zhongheng, Zhang Jicong and so on. "Waterfall" is a new work by well-known director Zhong Menghong, showing the life and mental state of a mother and daughter under the epidemic, and last year's selection work "Sunshine" in Taiwan was also written by Zhong Menghong. As of press time, the relevant departments have not yet announced the Chinese mainland selection of films, fans and friends may wish to guess.
Mama's Wonder Boy poster
Affected by the epidemic, many countries have taken out "old goods" to send for selection
These 75 films are not only far less than last year's 97, but also the fewest in the past five or six years. Obviously, if countries still have works that have been completed before the epidemic last year to choose from, the new crown epidemic that began to spread widely in the spring of 2020 has seriously disrupted the global film industry, greatly reduced global film production, and made it impossible for many countries to come up with suitable films this year.
Even, there are many countries that have come up with the selection of films that are "old goods" of the previous year. For example, Argentina was represented by "The Intruder" at last year's Berlin Film Festival; Greece was represented by "Digger", which was shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival's Panorama unit last year; "Bad Roads" was represented by Last Year's Venice Film Festival Critics Week; and Portugal was represented by "The Metamorphosis of Birds", which was shortlisted for last year's Berlin Film Festival Encounter unit Birds）。
Poster of Sun City
Because the above films are released in their domestic countries this year, they all meet the rules of the Oscar for best international film. It is also worth mentioning the Algerian film "Héliopolis", which originally signed up for the Oscars last year, but due to the outbreak of the epidemic in Algeria, the release plan was temporarily cancelled, and the Oscar registration form that had been sent out was withdrawn. This year, the local epidemic situation in Afghanistan has improved, "Sun City" was successfully released, and the producer decided not to forget its original intention, and once again won the opportunity to "rush the Olympics" for the country. The whole process is repeated and repeated, which can be said to be a kind of epitome of the declaration of the best international film at this Oscar under the epidemic.
The shortlisted works of the three major film festivals are still popular, and the Iranian film "A Hero" is the most promising
Last year, a total of 97 countries and territories submitted film entries (four were disqualified, so a total of 93 works were shortlisted), setting an all-time high. The five films that made it to the final round, from Denmark, Romania, Hong Kong, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Tunisia, eventually won the little golden man by the relatively well-received and more powerful "Alcohol Project" (Denmark).
This year's situation is similar to last year's, and there is no big hit like the previous year's "Parasite". Therefore, there is no small suspense about which ones can enter the short list, which ones can be nominated, and which one can win the small gold man in the end. Similar to previous years, the films registered this year are still focused on works that have participated in the three major film festivals of Berlin, Cannes and Venice in 2021. The most optimistic Iranian film in the industry, "A Hero", is the winner of this year's Grand Jury Prize at Cannes.
A Hero poster
A Hero's director, Asha Farhati, won the Little Golden Man (the only Oscar in Iranian history) for his 2011 "A Parting" and 2016's "Salesman". The new work will land in U.S. theaters on January 7 next year and on Amazon's streaming platform on January 21. Although this will be later than December 21, when the shortlist is announced, it is not surprising that "A Hero" has a high probability of being shortlisted for 15 shortlisted films after a preliminary screening, so such a release time is more conducive to the two more important rounds of voting later.
Poster of "Carriage Six"
Also coming from this year's main competition section in Cannes were Compartment No. 6, which represented Finland, and Drive My Car, which represented Japan. The former and "A Hero" tied for the Jury Prize, the latter is the winner of the Best Screenplay Award, both of which have a certain strength.
Poster of The Worst Man in the World
In addition, "The Worst Person in the World," which won this year's Cannes Best Actress Award, will represent Norway, which is also director Joachim Trier's third "rush" trip. Also winner of the Cannes Jury Prize is Thai director Apichatpong's "Memoria," which will represent Colombia, one of the nine producers.
Unclenching The Fists, which won the grand prize in a kind of attention section in Cannes, will represent Russia. Icelandic films "Lamb", Austrian film "Great Freedom", Mexican film "Night Of Fire", Belgian film "Playground", Bangladeshi film "Rehana Maryam Noor" and Turkish film "Commitment" (Commitment) also participated in this section Hasan) will also represent their respective countries.
Poster for Dawn
It is worth mentioning the Israeli film "Let It Be Morning", which was also shortlisted for a kind of attention unit, directed by Eran Kolirin, an Israeli director who has made "Band Visit", about the tangled and chaotic disputes between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples in the land of Israel. During this year's Cannes Film Festival, several leading actors, including the male lead actor, protested solemnly against the Cannes organizers' country labeling of the film as Israel, which caused a lot of controversy. Now, the film has been used by Israel to "rush the Olympics", and it is not known whether it will trigger a backlash from all sides.
Poster of "Escape"
In addition, the situation of the Danish film Flee is very special. Although the documentary, which was filmed in the form of an animated film, also participated in Cannes, it was not this year's Cannes, but the one that was not actually held last year. However, because the film was officially released in Denmark in June this year, it fully meets the requirements for the selection of the Oscar for best international film. "Escape" tells the true story of Afghan refugees, and has won many awards at this year's Annecy Animation Festival in France and the Sundance Film Festival in the United States, so it is also optimistic that it can win two Oscar nominations for best international film and best documentary feature film at the Oscars at the same time, after all, last year's "Collective" and the previous year's "Honeyland" two works did this.
Cannes Palme d'Or winner wins the Venice Golden Lion
Compared with other countries that suffer from riceless cooking, France has encountered sweet troubles. In the end, Titane, winner of this year's Cannes Palme d'Or, defeated this year's Venice Golden Lion winner "Happening" and was selected by a committee of actor Julie Depay and Cannes head Fumao to represent France in the Oscar finals. However, some American media revealed that in the end which film to choose to represent France, in addition to the artistic standard, the American distributor behind the two films - the American IFC Film Company that represents "Happening" and the Neon Film Company that represents "Titanium" secretly compete and play a big role.
Titanium poster
Judging from the results, the Neon Company that successfully promoted "Parasite" to an Oscar earlier is obviously superior. This time, they also arranged a grand publicity and release plan for "Titanium", so that the film has grossed $1.44 million since its release on October 1, making it the best Palme d'Or winner in the United States in the past 17 years. Of course, the media reputation of "Titanium" is far less uniform than that of "Parasite", but it is highly polarized, and whether it can win the unanimous affirmation of the Oscar judges remains to be proved. Relatively speaking, the theme of "Happening" is in line with the increasingly fierce abortion issue in the United States, and it is a pity that it was not selected.
Historically, France has been nominated for the most Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film, up to forty times. However, for more than two decades, France has been missing this award. The last victory was in 1992's Indochina. Last year, "The Two of Us" selected by France entered the short list, but failed to be nominated.
Hand of God poster
After saying Cannes, look at Venice. Golden Lion winner "Happening" failed to represent France at the Oscars, but "The Hand Of God," which won the Grand Jury Prize, did represent Italy. The film's director, Paolo Sorrentino, who won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2013 for "The City of Absolute Beauty", is the second time he has represented Italy to "rush the Olympics", and coupled with the fact that Netflix, who is responsible for the film's U.S. distribution, is a wealthy Netflix, it should not be a problem to enter the short list.
In addition, the Venetian main competition unit "Leave No Trace" will represent Poland, while the Slovak film "107 Mothers" and the Bolivian film "The Great Movement" will represent their respective countries.
As for the berlinale, which was first unveiled, this year's Golden Bear winner Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn will naturally represent Romania. "I'm Your Man," which won the Silver Bear Award for Best Actor, will also represent Germany. There is nothing left to compete for the Oscar, and this is basically in line with Berlin's increasingly biased approach to film selection in recent years.
The Good Boss poster
Those who want to take the side are probably the Spanish Film Bureau, which is responsible for selecting the film, and they do not choose the big director Almodóvar's new work "Parallel Mother", but they have seen the comedy "The Good Boss" by director Fernando Leon de Aranoa. The film follows the route of noir comedy, and although it is quite good at the domestic box office in Spain, it missed the highest honor, the Golden Shell Award, when it participated in the San Sebastian Film Festival earlier, and it is certainly not as easy to get the recognition of professionals as "Parallel Mother".
This is reminiscent of twenty years ago, in 2002, when the exact same plot was staged once. The Spaniards ignored Almodóvar's "Say To Her" and instead chose Aranoa's "Mondays in the Sun" with the laid-off workers as the protagonist, and the result was that "Say It to Her" won the best original screenplay award that year, plus the nomination for the best director award. After two decades, can the Spanish film authorities regain face for their choices? Let's wait and see.
Whether it can be shortlisted or not depends on the exposure rate in addition to the quality
Last year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, Lesotho, Sudan and Suriname submitted their films for the first time. As of press time this year, the only country to be selected for the first time is Somalia, and "The Gravedigger's Wife" had its world premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival's Critics Week section. Coincidentally, this year's South Korean film "Mogadishu" is about the historical events that took place in Somalia thirty years ago. However, at present, it seems that both works have a hard time having a chance to stand out.
Poster of Mogadishu
The registration deadline is November 1. Subsequently, there will be a special person responsible for first reviewing whether all the registered films are eligible for the competition. In addition to the time must be the film released this year, it is more important to see whether the lines are mainly written in English or not, and whether there are so many filmmakers in the main creative team who have signed up for the country to participate in it.
Subsequently, the preliminary selection process begins. The jury at this stage numbered about a thousand, claiming to be from all over the world, but mainly composed of members of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles and New York. Most of them signed up voluntarily to take on the judging process, and the only threshold was that they had to see at least twelve registered films. After that, based on the votes they gave, a short list of fifteen works was selected until December 21 this year.
In the past, the short list consisted of only ten works, seven of which came from the judges' votes, and three of which were reserved for a special selection committee, which was originally intended to give some works that seemed very good to professionals but failed to enter the top seven for various reasons have the opportunity to "overtake in the corner". But since last year, the short list has been changed from ten to fifteen, and this selection committee has also been abolished, and all fifteen places are completely subject to the votes of the judges. Therefore, some movies that are actually quite good, because the publicity is not good enough, the shouting is not loud enough to let a large number of American judges see it, may miss the opportunity to be selected. From this point of view, the competition for the Best International Film oscar under the new regulations, in addition to the quality of the film itself, the taste is more suitable for American filmmakers, the most important thing is to look at the publicity and the exposure rate.
The fifteen works on the shortlist will need to go through another round of voting, and the best five will be announced on February 8 next year, along with the nomination results of other Oscar awards, becoming the finalists for the 94th Academy Awards for Best International Picture in 2022.
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Zhe
Proofreader: Ding Xiao