Wide-open foreign-film Oscar race begins
With a staggering 67 foreign-language entries to see, from Friday's opening film, the Netherlands' "Dunya and Desie," to the Jan. 10 closing movie, "Aha!," from Bangladesh, volunteers for this year's foreign-film nominating committee have their work cut out for them.
Under new rules, the committee -- which tends to consist of older, often retired members who have more time on their hands -- will only pick six of the nine finalists. The academy's foreign-film executive committee, headed by Mark Johnson and including Oscar-winning filmmakers such as Curtis Hanson, will choose the remaining three. Then, as in the last two years, a bicoastal committee of academy members (about 30 specially selected members) will view the nine finalists and whittle them down to the five that will be announced Jan. 22 as nominees for best foreign-language film of the year.
Johnson told us recently the new rule was necessary to maintain the integrity and quality of the selections and to ensure there wouldn't be embarrassing omissions. Last year's Palme d'Or winner at Cannes, Romania's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," failed even to make the final nine. By putting three choices in the hands of the select exec committee, he thinks the academy's overall list will be more in tune with the current best in world cinema. It's no secret that Johnson feels the big committee has in the past overlooked worthy acclaimed films in favor of safer, more crowd-pleasing movies. Brazil's "City of God" in 2002 was another prime example. It was passed over as a foreign-film nominee only to come back the next year and get four major Oscar nominations, including director and screenplay. This was considered a big embarrassment and a black eye for the committee.
Because the academy must rely on volunteer members to do the heavy lifting and view all these films, they are broken down into four sections: white, red, green and blue. Members must prove they have seen at least 12 of their section's films, which are judged on a scale of 6 to 10, with 10 being best. A new option was added last year in which a member could abstain from assigning a number but still get credit for sitting through the flick. The white section kicks things off Friday night, although any member of the other three color groups may attend. Some try to see every single entry, no small task, but there are lots of grumblings about the increasingly long leash they are being put on.
"We are basically being demoted," one longtime volunteer told us this week. "They don't trust our judgment, so they are making us feel like second-class citizens. It's unfair when you consider all the time we put in for three months a year. But if you rock the boat, you risk getting kicked off, and I enjoy seeing these films from around the world."
Another complaint concerns the quality of some of the films. Because each country gets to choose only one film (a decision often influenced by local politics), the possibility exists that a lot of other worthy films from the same country are left out in the cold.
Sony Pictures Classics Co-President Michael Barker says this is a banner year for French films. He has three lined up for release, but only Cannes film fest Palme d'Or winner "The Class" (which SPC is releasing domestically) was selected to compete. This means other critically acclaimed titles are edged out, including "I've Loved You So Long," "A Christmas Tale," "Paris," "Paris 36," "Tell No One" and the biggest French hit of all time, "Beinvenue ches les Ch'tis" (aka "Welcome to the Sticks"). Some have argued that the academy should relax its rules and consider the best films regardless of where they are from, even if that means drastically changing the way things are done. But the suggestion never seems to fly.
However it's done, most can agree that the foreign-language-film Oscar contest provides invaluable publicity for deserving films from other countries that otherwise might not find their way to the U.S.
Among the most anticipated films in this year's rundown are (in addtion to the aforementioned "The Class") such Cannes titles as "Gomorra" (Italy), "Waltz With Bashir" (Israel), "Three Monkeys" (Turkey), "My Magic" (Singapore) and "Lion's Den" (Argentina). Other highly anticipated screenings include the German entry, "The Baader Meinhof Complex," which screens Saturday morning, and India's "Taare Zameen Par," which has the longest running time of all entries, clocking in at 2 hours, 43 minutes. That's still a lot shorter than its director-star Aamir Khan's last film in competition, 2001 nominee "Lagaan," which ran 3 hours, 44 minutes! The shortest film on the list this year is Slovakia's 1-hour, 17-minute "Blind Loves."
Other anticipated entries are Austria's "Revanche," which just played Telluride to great acclaim; Jordan's first-ever entry and Sundance audience fave,"Captain Abu Raed"; Jan Troell's "Everlasting Moments" from Sweden; and another Cannes favorite, Bent Hamer's Certain Regard entry, "O Horten" about a retired man trying to fill his days.
It's interesting to note the battle between Russia and Georgia continues at the academy with Russian entry "Mermaid" set to unspool in a prime Oct. 20 slot while Georgia's "Mediator" has to wait to be seen until Jan. 8 at 9:37 p.m.
A top publicist who deals with a lot of these films says it's much more advantageous to be in early slots when attendance is higher than later in the season, when fatigue from reading so many subtitles finally takes its toll. That means Italy's Mafia tale, "Gomorra," the second-place film at Cannes, which runs Oct. 25, might be in a better position Oscar-wise than France's Palme d'Or-winning "The Class," which doesn't see the light of day at the academy until Dec. 15.
Only a few of these films have U.S. distribution deals as of now, so the exposure they are getting in the next three months could be the only time they are seen in a U.S theater (outside of scattered festivals). Some are counting on their status as official Academy Award entries to get them extra notice that could seal a deal.
Finally, to keep the process pure and immune from outside influence, the academy allows members to bring a guest but only if he or she is not a member of the press.
The Envelope will try to keep you informed anyway, but in the meantime, we wish the members a happy viewing experience for the next three months of the season and suggest they stock up on Murine.
-- Pete Hammond
(Photo: "The Class" Laurent Cantet (right) poses with his cast. Courtesy Valery Hache, AFP/Getty Images)
