Turkey, Czech Republic, and Germany kick off the Best International Feature Film race

by Nathaniel R

We wondered which country would be the early bird this year and that distinction goes to Turkey. Since the submissions are due by October 1, the process in many countries is already well under way and the announcements typically come fast and furious from mid-August through September.

TURKEY 
Turkey has selected last year's Venice Horizons Jury prize winner One of Those Days When Hemme Dies to represent them at the Oscars. The film is the directorial debut of Murat Firatoglu who wrote, produced and stars in the film as a laborer on a tomato farm who decides to kill his boss (the titular character, Hemme) due to unpaid wages...

We'd love to hear from anyone who has seen One of Those Days When Hemme Dies -- Might it have international appeal? 

Turkey has never been nominated for Best International Feature Film despite submitting regularly. Sadly that puts them in the list of TEN MOST UNLUCKY COUNTRIES IN OSCAR'S BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM CATEGORY

1. Portugal  - 41 submissions, 0 shortlists
2. Egypt - 38 submissions, 0 shortlists
3. Bulgaria - 35 submissions, 1 finalist
4. Philippines - 35 submissions, 0 shortlists
5. Venezuela - 34 submissions, 1 finalist
6. Croatia -34 submissions, 0 shortlists
7. [TIE] Thailand AND Turkey - 31 submissions and 1 finalist each
8. [TIE] Slovenia AND Slovakia - 28 submissions each with even a shortlist

We're always rooting for these ten countries because this is a long time to submit without recognition.

CZECH REPUBLIC
Meanwhile Czech Republic has named three finalists for this year's submission from a long list of eight films. Sadly their selection process is now embroiled in controversy, with the Czech Academy basically telling voters which film to vote for. Whoops. That could undermine Broken Voices if it is selected:

• Broken Voices by Ondrej Provaznik is a period drama about sisters whose dreams are shaped by their  stern choirmaster. It premiered at Karlovy.
• Caravan, a debut film from Zuzana Kirchnerová, is a drama about a mother and her disabled son on holiday in Italy. It premiered at Cannes.
• I'm Not Everything I Want To Be by Klára Tasovská. This one's a documentary about the "Czech Nan Goldin" Libuše Jarcovjáková a queer female photographer who came to fame in the 1970s and 1980s.

It's interesting that Czech films have made the 15-wide Academy shortlist in HALF of the past six races and yet they haven't been nominated in 21 years. Is momentum building for a resurgence of interest in their cinema, or was this just a good run of submissions? Their only win came from Kolya, an arthouse hit in the mid 1990s. 

GERMANY
Since the turn of the century in 2000, Germany has been the dominant country in this Oscar category. They lead the global pack with an astonishing 11 nominations, 3 wins, and 5 additional finalists in the past 25 years alone. Only Denmark (9/2/4) is anywhere close to that track record in our current Oscar era. In other words you always have to keep your eye on the German submission; they will consider it! They are reportedly going to choose between these five films:

AMRUM © Warner Brothers/Gordon Timpen, SMPSP

• Amrum by Fatih Akin. Akin's latest is a historical drama based on the childhood memories of filmmaker/playwright Hark Bohm (who is now in this 80s). The title refers to the island where Bohm grew up. Nor word yet on a US release but Akin's movies get here eventually. He's the only competitor this year who has previously been submitted; Germany sent him twice for Edge of Heaven (2007) and In the Fade (2017) the latter of which made the finals but was a mildly surprising snub on nomination morning given the precursor attention it received.
• John Cranko by Joachim Lang. A queer biopic about a famous dancer turned choreographer (played by British actor Sam Riley)
• Riefenstahl by Andres Veiel. A documentary about the infamous female filmmaker who is forever linked to the rise of Nazism. 
• Sound of Falling by Mascha Schilinski. This debut looks at four generations of women who lived in the same house. Elisa loved this one at Cannes a couple of months back and the Cannes jury did, too, handing it the Jury Prize.
• Der Tiger by Dennis Gansel. A war drama about a crew in a tank. Gansel directed several episodes of the recent TV series adaptation of German classic Das Boot.

We're guessing the submission choice will come down to Amrum vs Sound of Falling. Whichever film it is, if Germany is nominated in the upcoming race, it'll be their fourth consecutive nomination. Streaks that long have not been seen since the 1970s. The only countries to have received exactly four consecutive nominations are the former Czechoslovakia (1965-1968) and Germany (1956-1959). Curiously Italy and France have never stopped at four --  their streaks either end with three consecutive years (which they've both done many times) or they jump to five consecutive years (which they've managed two or three times, respectively). Funny that, right? Italy holds the record for the longest streak of all time with a single instance of six consecutive nominations (1974-1979).

CURRENT PREDICTIONS IN THIS CATEGORY