Foreign-Language Oscar Submissions Set New Record
 Gregg Kilday - Hollywood Reporter
| | Mexico's in the running this year with "Al Otro Lado," by Gustavo Loza. |
Having invited 91 countries to submit films for consideration in the foreign-language Oscar category, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said that a record 58 took up the offer.
Three countries that had not previously been represented submitted films: Costa Rica, which offered Esteban Ramirez's "Caribe"; Fiji, which submitted Vilsoni Hereniko's "The Land Has Eyes"; and Iraq, which entered Jamil Rostami's "Requiem of Snow."
Two movies arrived in the wake of local controversies. Christian Carion's "Joyeux Noel," from France, drew a complaint from France's independent producers union that the choice was "politically motivated." When Italy's first submission, Saverio Costanzo's "Private," was ruled ineligible by the Academy because none of its dialogue is in Italian, Italy submitted Cristina Comencini's "La bestia nel cuore."
Other films already have laurels on their resumes. Belgium's entry "The Child," directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival; Quebec director Jean-Marc Vallee's "C.R.A.Z.Y.," Canada's submission, earned the best Canadian feature film award at the Toronto International Film Festival; Gavin Hood's "Tsotsi," South Africa's entry, picked up the People's Choice Award at Toronto; and Byambasuren Davaa's "The Cave of the Yellow Dog," from Mongolia, recently took home three prizes at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Nominations in all categories will be announced January 31, with winners unveiled March 5.
The submitted films are:
Argentina, "El Aura," Fabian Bielinsky;
Bangladesh, "Shyamol Chaya," Humayun Ahmed;
Belgium, "The Child," Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne;
Bolivia, "Say Good Morning to Dad," Fernando Vargas;
Bosnia & Herzegovina, "Totally Personal," Nedzad Begovic;
Brazil, "Two Sons of Francisco," Breno Silveira;
Bulgaria, "Stolen Eyes," Radoslav Spassov;
Canada, "C.R.A.Z.Y.," Jean-Marc Vallee;
Chile, "Play," Alicia Scherson;
China, "The Promise," Chen Kaige;
Colombia, "La Sombra del Caminante," Ciro Guerra;
Costa Rica, "Caribe," Esteban Ramirez;
Croatia, "A Wonderful Night in Split," Arsen Anton Ostojic;
Cuba, "Viva Cuba," Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti;
Czech Republic, "Something Like Happiness," Bohdan Slama;
Denmark, "Adam's Apples," Anders Thomas Jensen;
Estonia, "Shop of Dreams," Peeter Urbla;
Fiji, "The Land Has Eyes," Vilsoni Hereniko;
Finland, "Mother of Mine," Klaus Haro;
France, "Joyeux Noel," Christian Carion;
Georgia, "Tbilisi-Tbilisi," Levan Zakareishvili;
Germany, "Sophie Scholl -- The Final Days," Marc Rothemund;
Hong Kong, "Perhaps Love," Peter Ho-Sun Chan;
Hungary, "Fateless," Lajos Koltai;
Iceland, "Ahead of Time," Agust Gudmundsson;
India, "Paheli," Amol Palekar;
Indonesia, "Gie," Riri Riza;
Iran, "So Close, So Far," Reza Mir Karimi;
Iraq, "Requiem of Snow," Jamil Rostami;
Israel, "What a Wonderful Place," Eyal Halfon;
Italy, "La Bestia Nel Cuore," Cristina Comencini;
Japan, "Blood and Bones," Yoichi Sai;
Luxembourg, "Renart the Fox," Thierry Schiel;
Mexico, "Al Otro Lado," Gustavo Loza;
Mongolia, "The Cave of the Yellow Dog," Byambasuren Davaa;
The Netherlands, "Bluebird," Mijke de Jong;
Norway, "Kissed by Winter," Sara Johnsen;
Palestine, "Paradise Now," Hany Abu-Assad;
Peru, "Dias de Santiago," Josue Mendez;
Poland, "The Collector," Feliks Falk;
Portugal, "Noite Escura," Joao Canijo;
Puerto Rico, "Cayo," Vicente Juarbe;
Romania, "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," Cristi Puiu;
Russia, "The Italian," Andrei Kravchuk;
Serbia & Montenegro, "Midwinter Night's Dream," Goran Paskaljevic;
Singapore, "Be With Me," Eric Khoo;
Slovak Republic, "The City of the Sun," Martin Sulik;
Slovenia, "The Ruins," Janez Burger;
South Africa, "Tsotsi," Gavin Hood;
South Korea, "Welcome to Dongmakgol," Kwang-hyun Park;
Spain, "Obaba," Montxo Armendariz;
Sweden, "Zozo," Josef Fares;
Switzerland, "Tout un Hiver sans Feu," Greg Zglinski;
Taiwan, "The Wayward Cloud," Tsai Ming-liang;
Tajikistan, "Sex & Philosophy," Mohsen Makhmalbaf;
Thailand, "The Tin Mine," Jira Maligool;
Turkey, "Lovelorn," Yavuz Turgul;
Vietnam, "Buffalo Boy," Nguyen Vo Nghiem Mihn. |
Vallarta Weddings
Entertainment | October 2005 
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