"Dear Ex" adds another queer film to the International Feature Oscar Race
Thursday, September 12, 2019 at 12:00PM by Nathaniel R
UPDATED 09/17
59 films announced thus far for the Best International Feature race at the 92nd Oscars, there are yet more LGBTQ entries...
One recent gay entry is Taiwan's Dear Ex (2018). You might remember the title because it won three Golden Horse Awards last year including Best Actress for the Hsieh Ying-xuan as the widow who realizes her husband had a male lover (Roy Chiu, nominated for Best Actor). It's currently available to stream on Netflix.
The other newest arrival is Memories of My Body from Indonesia which we haven't heard much about but involves male dancers who dress as women. It's kind of a surprising selection since it's been banned in some parts of the country and is under attack by conservative groups for "LGBT propaganda". SOUNDS GREAT, WHEN CAN WE WATCH IT?
Memories of My Body
That brings the total of LGBTQ films to eight.
- Bolivia - I Miss You
- Indonesia - Memories of My Body
- Panama - Everybody Changes
- Peru - Retablo
- Spain - Pain & Glory
- Sweden - And Then We Danced
- Taiwan - Dear Ex
- Venezuela - Being Impossible
UPDATE: France did not select the lesbian romance Portrait of a Lady on Fire which would have made this list more high profile and larger.
Reader Comments (11)
Nathaniel, please address this whole Jennifer López is winning an Oscar crazyness.
Soon, there will be 6 with France's "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" ;)
And isn't Moroccan "Adam" also an LGBT movie?
I did not see this but it competed for Queer Palm in Cannes: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10199664/awards?ref_=tt_awd
I fear they'll go with Les Miserables
I didn't realize Roy Qiu was in this. He's really stepped up his game compared to his early days just playing the rich guy in a rom-com. Going to watch it now!
@Charlie - Sadly, it's not very good :(
Six?
Four films out of the six are from Spanish-speaking countries
Charlie --if they select it. I loved it but I fear they might go with Les Miserables instead.
I live in France and I feel more buzz for Portrait right now...
But this may be due to release dates.
Thank you for recommending "Dear Ex". It's a wonderful film!
Memories of My Body is an interesting flick for sure. I saw it, but do not really like its style. Some Indonesians said that it is a masterpiece though.