Foreign Oscar Watch: Does "Xuan Zang" Complete the Submission List?
Thursday, October 6, 2016 at 5:30PM As we've noted many times the Official Foreign Film Submission List generally contains at least one surprise when Oscar announces it -either a switcheroo from a country who had second thoughts about their submitted film or a disqualification or a film we hadn't yet heard of. We don't know the date but it's any time in the next week or so. At the moment the list is 86 wide (a record if it holds!) thanks to the last few films we know of to announce including Costa Rica's romantic dramedy About Us, Malaysia's autism drama Redha, and the biopic Xuan Zang from China which is about a famous monk during the Tang Dynasty. That one sure looks pretty.
If you haven't looked at the Oscar charts in a while take a gander. We'll obviously break it down in several fun ways when the official list is announced.
What You Can Watch
If you are eager to see the selections please note that Sweden's A Man Called Ove, UK's Under the Shadow, South Korea's Age of Shadows, and Israel's Sand Storm are now in select cities and Mexico's Desierto hits next Friday. The only three available to watch online right now in the US that we know of are Palestine's The Idol (for rental on Amazon), Venezuela's From Afar and Greece's Chevalier (which are both streaming on Netflix). If you know of legal options in your country to view these please let others know in the comments.
86 Submissions for 2016
Afghanistan to Finland - 27 films
France to The Netherlands - 29 films
New Zealand to Vietnam - 30 films
14 Submission Reviews Thus Far
Death in Sarajevo - Bosnia & Herzegovina
Neruda - Chile
Mother - Estonia
Elle - France
Toni Erdmann - Germany
Chevalier - Greece
Sand Storm - Israel
Fire at Sea - Italy
A Flickering Truth - New Zealand
Apprentice - Singapore
Julieta - Spain
My Life as a Courgette - Switzerland
As I Open My Eyes - Tunisia
From Afar - Venezuela
Reader Comments (5)
After seeing Toni Erdmann, I can't decide if I think it'll be in or not. It was so well-received at film festivals (my audience at NYFF *loved* it), but it's so unlike anything else that has done well in this category in recent years.
Neruda seems quite likely in my opinion. I don't think it quite worked, but it was exquisitely made and is just accessible enough to do well here.
I think Elle will benefit from the Executive Committee save and also have a good feeling about Sand Storm though I've not yet seen those two.
Indonesia's Letter from Prague is actually really good and a surprising, inspired choice for submission. But of course it stands no chance.
Greek "Chevalier" is availiable on Vimeo in USA (from some reason I remember that I've seen there also the Icelandic film. but can find it, probably I'm wrong) and Slovak "Eva Nova" is availiable on Festivalscope. Tunisian "A peine j'ouvre les yeux" is avaliable in selected European countries (can be tricked). Australian "Tanna" is availiable in Australian Itunes. I suppose there're more and of course I've mentioned only legal options.
Maybe a little utopia here, but Algerian submission this year "The Well" is a strong choice. The movie is very emotionnal. It's a war movie but narrated differently, since the story is about women and children, facing death by thirst, in a village besieged by ennemy soldiers and can't get out until they had to choose their death by ennemy guns.
I've been spending much of the long weekend watching the films available on VOD....In addition to Palestine, Greece and Venezuela mentioned above, you can purchase "Very big shot" (Lebanon) on USA iTunes, "Fire at Sea" (Italy) and "Under the Shadow" (UK) on Curzon Home Cinema, "As I Open My Eyes" (Tunisia...maybe? They seem to have picked two) on Trigon and "Tanna" (Australia) on Vimeo. Some of these may require a VPN. Best of all, you can watch the heartbreaking masterpiece "Eva Nova" (SLOVAKIA) for FREE on Festival Scope! It's my favorite so far!