Intl' Oscar Updates: Bulgaria, Chile, Palestine, Philippines, Spain

by Nathaniel R

Multiple but brief International Oscar updates for you this fine Monday morning. We'd previously discussed the possibilities from Switzerland and three finalists from Czech Republic. Both countries have now made their decisions. Switzerland is going with The Late Shift, a hospital drama starring Leonie Benesch (September 5, Babylon Berlin). Czech Republic refused the recommendation from their Academy (which was trying to steer their votes to a different film) and went with the experimental documentary I'm Not Everything I Want To Be by Klára Tasovská which focuses on a photographer that's considered the 'Czech Nan Goldin.'

But that's not all...

BULGARIA
(36 submissions | 0 nominations | + 1 finalist)
Bulgaria has yet to be nominated. This year they've chosen Tarika from director Milko Lazarov, which is a drama with supernatural / superstititous (?) elements centered around a father and his gifted daughter who is not accepted by their town. (Lazarov was previously submitted in 2019 for Aga.) 

PALESTINE
(18 submissions | 2 nominations | + 1 additional finalist)
Palestine has selected a historical drama Palestine '36 , written and directed by Annemarie Jacir (who was the first Palestinian woman to direct a feature film back in the Aughts), which is set for a Gala presentation at TIFF. It's about the inevitable collision of Jewish immigrants, British colonial rule, and Palestinians. This is the fourth time Palestine has submitted a film by Jacir after 2008's Salt of the Sea (her debut), 2012's When I Saw You, and her most celebrated feature to date 2017's Wajib. This makes her Palestine's most frequently submitted director. That honor previously belonged to Hany Abu-Assad with three submissions - he was nominated twice for Paradise Now and Omar)

And now other longlist updates...

CHILE
(29 submissions | 2 nominations | 1 win | + 1 additional finalist) 
They will probably be announcing this month but for now we know that there's a shortlist of six films that the Academia de Cine is choosing between: 

• Bitter Gold by Juan Francisco Olea
• Designation of Origin by Tomás Alzamora
• The Hyperboreans by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña
• The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo by Diego Céspedes. [Reviewed by Elisa at Cannes]
• The Wave by Sebastián Lelio
• A Yard of Jackals by Diego Figueroa

Given its Camera D'Or win in May, we suspect they'll choose Diego Céspedes's The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo. On the other hand sometimes countries opt for directors who have been successful before so it could be Lelio's The Wave, since he won the category for A Fantastic Woman (and should have received another nomination for Gloria, which was also submitted and later remade less successfully in English.  

PHILIPPINES
(34 submissions)
Despite trying once before this was even a regular competitive category (when it was an Honorary Oscar form) and regularly since, they've been unlucky with / unfavored by Oscar voters. We keep hoping it will turn around for them (see also the plight of Portugal). They have a shortlist of seven films they're considering...

• Food Delivery by Baby Ruth Villarama
  A documentary about Filipino fisherman, and rotation and resupply missions. The doc is under attack by the Chinese government.
• Green Bones by Zig Dulay
  A prison drama which was a multi-prize winner at the 50th Metro Manila Film Festival.
• Hello, Love, Again by Cathy Garcia-Sampana
  Romantic drama [Streaming on Netflix]
• Magellan by Lav Diaz
• Sunshine by Antoinette Jadaone
  A coming of age drama about a gymnast who discovers she's pregnant
• Some Nights I Feel Like Walking by Petersen Vargas
  Gay drama about street hustlers which has been at a few festivals now. See the trailer below.
• Song of the Fireflies by King Palisoc
  A film about the origin story of the Loboc Children's Choir in the 1980s

Green Bones will be the choice if its multiple Festival wins are indication of general home country enthusiasm. On the other hand, Magellan is from Lav Diaz who is easily the most well known auteur here. He's only been submitted once previously (Norte, The End of History for 2014). Will they try again? Magellan has the campaign advantage (if submitted) of a well-loved familiar face in the titular role. That'd be Mexico's Gael Garcia Bernal who is a major star in the annals of this category. Consider...

International Submissions Starring Gael Garcia Bernal
2000 - Amores Perros (Mexico) - NOMINEE, and the actor's feature film debut
2002 - The Crime of Father Amaro (Mexico) - NOMINEE
2010 - Even the Rain (Spain) - finalist
2012 - No (Chile) - NOMINEE
2016 - Neruda (Chile) - not selected
         -Desierto (Mexico) - not selected

Other Nominated Films Starring Gael Garcia Bernal
2002 - Y Tu Mama Tambien - Best Original Screenplay Nominee
2004 - Motorcycle Diaries - Best Original Song Winner / Best Adapted Screenplay Nominee
2006 - Babel - 7 nominations including Best Picture / Best Score Winner
2017 - Coco - Best Animated Feature Winner

Gael Garcia Bernal stars as "MAGELLAN"

Only nine actors have appeared in more than three nominated films in the International Feature category, so if Bernal lands one more he'll be in the top ten. Those actors are: Ricardo Darin (Argentina) Catherine Deneuve (France), Gerard Depardieu (France), Vittoria Gassman (Italy), Isabelle Huppert (France), Mads Mikkelsen (Denmark), Marcello Mastroianni (Italy), Philippe Noiret (France), and Max Von Sydow (Sweden). 

SPAIN
(67 submissions | 21 nominations | 4 wins | + 3 additional finalists)

The following list is not a "finalist list" but merely the 23 films that have registered for the Oscar competition to represent Spain. Spain always announces a finalist list of three films before making their official selection but we know those three will come from the following list. It's too many films to discuss in depth so we're just highlighting three films that are either from previously submitted directors OR that already have significant critical buzz... 

• Afternoons of Solitude by Albert Serra
• Away by Gerard Oms
• Barren Land by Albert Pintó
• Black Butterflies by David Baute
• The Captive by Alejandro Amenábar
  A 16th century costume drama about the imprisoned writer Miguel de Cervantes. Amenabar won the category for Spain for The Sea Inside (2004)
• Deaf by Eva Libertad
• The Delights of the Garden by Fernando Colomo
• Dolores Ibárruri. Pasionaria by Amparo Climent
• Enemies by David Valero
• The Exiles by Belén Funes
• A Free Man by Laura Hojman
• The Good Handwriting by Celia Rico Clavellino
• Maspalomas by Jose Mari Goenaga and Aitor Arregi
• My Friend Eva by Cesc Gay
• The Portuguese House by Avelina Prat
• The Remnants of You by Gala Gracia
• Romería by Carla Simón
  Simón has only made two previous films (Summer 1993 and Alcarass) and Spain submitted them both. Will she go three for three? Her latest is a semi-autobiographical drama about a woman searching for information about her father who died of AIDS in the 1990s.
• She Walks in Darkness by Agustín Díaz Yanes
• Sirāt by Óliver Laxe
  This buzzy Cannes hit seems likely as a finalist. Reviewed by Elisa at Cannes. 
• Sleepless City by Guillermo Galoe
• The Talent by Polo Menárguez
• Los Tigres by Alberto Rodríguez
• The Treasure of Barracuda by Adrià García

My early hunch is Sirat but who knows. Spain's Goya Awards take place in February so they won't give us any clues as we'll already know the submission by the time nominations are announced. Last season the Goya was for best film was a tie between the bus hijacking drama The 47 and the thriller The Undercover but one of the losing nominees, the music drama Saturn Return, was their Oscar submission. 

SWEDEN
(64 submissions | 16 nominations | 3 wins | + 4 additional finalists)

Sweden, which was Oscar's favourite Nordic country in the 20th century (largely thanks to three repeatedly nominated filmmakers - Ingmar Bergman, Bo Widerberg, and Jan Troell), has taken a backseat to neighboring Denmark in the 21st century. Sweden was last nominated for Ruben Ostlund's The Square (2017) before that auteur went on to even more Oscar love for his English language satire Triangle of Sadness.  Sweden will choose between the following three pictures for the 98th Oscars:

• The Dance Club by Lisa Langseth
  Directorial Debut romantic comedy revolving around a psychologist and a performance artist.
• Eagles of the Republic by Tarik Saleh
  Egyptian-Swedish auteur Tarik Saleh was a finalist for the Oscars in this category a few years back for Boy From Heaven (known in the US at Cairo Conspiracy). This thriller is about an Egyptian actor played by the gifted Lebanese-Swedish star Fares Fares (a regular within Nordic submissions in this category), who is forced into making a film.
• Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989 by Göran Hugo Olsson
  A three and half hour documentary charting how the Israel Palestine conflict was perceived by the Swedish media over the years.

They will announce their choice late this month. 

BRAZIL
(54 submissions | 5 noms | 1 win | + 1 additional finalist)
Brazil finally won the category, after a long drought, with last year's Best Picture / Best Actress contender I'm Still Here. What will they choose in its afterglow? Brazil will select six finalists (by September 5) and then a submission (by September 15) but sixteen films are eligible. We've highlighted a few of them due to buzz and/or previous Oscar submission adjacency: 

• Baby by Marcelo Caetano [Available to Rent]
  Fine LGBTQ drama about a street hustler.
• The Beach at the End of the World by Petrus Cariry
• The Best Mother in the World by Anna Muylaert
  Muylaert was previously submitted for the terrific drama The Second Mother in 2015.
• The Blue Trail by Gabriel Mascaro
  This dystopian drama about an elderly woman (Denise Weinberg) on a trip through the Amazon won the Silver Bear at Berlinale. Rodrigo Santoro co-stars.
• Carnival Is Over by Fernando Coimbra
• Homem com H by Esmir Filho
• Malu by Pedro Freire
• Manas (Sisters)  by Marianna Brennand
  This drama about a girl trying to survive sexual abuse won the Directors Award in a Venice sidebar.
• Milton Bituca Nascimento by Flávia Moraes
• Portrait of a Certain Orient by Marcelo Gomes
  Gomes was previously submitted for Cinema, Aspirin, and Vultures in 2006
• Same Old West by Erico Rassi
• The Secret Agent by Kleber Mendonça Filho
  Filho was previously submitted for both Neighbouring Sounds and Pictures of Ghosts  but famously snubbed as a submission for arguably his best film Aquarius. 
• The Son of a Thousand Men by Daniel Rezende
• Vitória by Andrucha Waddington and Breno Silveira
  Highlighted this one because it stars the great Fernanda Montenegro (who turns 96 in two months!) as a woman who films suspicious behavior from her window hoping to help the police. 
• White House by Luciano Vidigal
• Wolf Among the Swans by Marcos Schechtman and Helena Varvaki.

We think the submission is likely to be The Secret Agent given its Cannes success and that Mendonça Filho is a very well regarded auteur.

At this point, though, I have seen just one of these, Baby. It's a true gem for fans of LGBTQ+ cinema and you can rent it in the US. Baby is well structured and economical (107 minutes) and always involving. The titular character is "Wellington", an essentially orphaned 18 year-old, just released from juvenile prison. When he discovers his mother has moved out of the city he takes up with an older male prostitute (a great performance from Ricardo Teodoro) who shows him 'the business' so to speak, and a romantic relationship evolves from there.

Comments

[Cláudio Alves]

Brazil really had an amazing year. There's THE SECRET AGENT, of course, and BABY, which you also mentioned. But also THE BLUE TRAIL which won the Silver Bear at Berlin, MANAS with its brilliant reviews, VITÓRIA with an amazing Fernanda Monetenegro perfornance. I also love HOMEM COM H (aka LATIN LOVER - THE BALLAD OF NEY MATOGROSSO) as I've said before on the site, and have heard wonderful things about KASA BRANCA (aka WHITE HOUSE).

In other news, I have no idea what Portugal will pick. Perhaps we can send Lav Diaz's film if the Philippines decides to pass on it, given that it is a Portuguese co-production. Our Cannes winner, I ONLY LAUGH IN THE STORM, is marvelous but so removed from what the Academy goes for that it would feel rather strange as a submission. Same goes for such slow cinema wonders as THE FLAME OF A CANDLE and FIRE OF WIND and the Neorealist fiction-doc hybrid SAVANNA AND THE MOUNTAIN.