"Asia" Wins the Ophir. Let's Talk Israel and Oscar...

by Nathaniel R

Alena Yiv and Shira Haas as mother and daughter in ASIA

The Ophir Awards were held today in Israel with Asia emerging as the winner so it will now represent Israel at the Oscars. Based on buzz we've heard on this mother/daughter drama, which caused a stir at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year we've added it to the actual Oscar predictions and our letterboxd list tracking the contenders. Asia is a mother/daughter drama starring Alena Yiv as the mother and the brilliant Shira Haas (Unorthodox) as the daughter (they both won Ophir Awards for this) so we will see it the first chance we get. You can see a full list of the nominees and winners at this freshly updated post.

But let's talk about Israel at the Oscars. They hold the distinction of being (by far) the most nominated country that's never won. They used to be in a tight race for that frustrating honor but in the past seven years Poland won with Ida and then Mexico with Roma so now the title is theirs alone. Their nearest rival is a distant one (Belgium has 7 nominations). More on Israeli classics and Oscar stats after the jump...

ISRAEL'S OSCAR STATS
Submitting since 1964
52 Total Submissions 
10 Nominations (and 1 Additional Finalist)
0 Wins 

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Five French finalists for Oscar submission

by Nathaniel R

It would never be an easy decision to select the French submission for the Oscar given how much there is to choose from each year. Their Oscar submission honor will be announced in December but we know now that it will be one of these five pictures which were selected by a film industry committee...

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1987: Best Cinematography Oscar Race

by Cláudio Alves

The year of the next Supporting Actress Smackdown is quite an impressive Oscar vintage. Despite the sweep of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won all nine of its nominations, the 60th Academy Awards showcased a remarkable variety of films and artistic approaches. The Best Actress lineup, for instance, is one for the ages, and, across the board, there was a rare openness to honoring the excellence of comedies, mainstream entertainment, and even European arthouse.

In the so-called "below the line" categories, Best Cinematography deserves particular praise. The legendary Vittorio Storaro conquered his third and final trophy for the opulent lensing of The Last Emperor. However, his competition was none too shabby, representing some of the greatest cinematographers ever who, along with the Italian victor, helped shape and perfect the art of cinema, taking it to new peaks of visual marvel. Come meet these masters and their masterworks…

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EFA Nominees: Denmark's "Another Round" Leads the Pack

by Nathaniel R

Apologies that in this week where we've been doing such a fine job covering international cinema news what will all the Oscar submission daily stuff, that we missed the EFA nominations. "OOPS-HOWD-THAT- HAPPEN?" in all caps. The nominees and commentary are after the jump. If we've written about the film there are links...

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Doc Corner: Three International Feature Oscar Contenders

By Glenn Dunks

Documentaries have been popping up more and more in the line-ups for Best International Feature (née Best Foreign Language Film) since Cambodia snagged a remarkably unlikely nomination for The Missing Picture. Last year’s double-whammy nomination for Honeyland in both the international and documentary categories (from an equally unexpected country, North Macedonia) has no doubt emboldened national selectors to choose non-fiction titles, which I am certainly happy about.

Three such selections are playing DOC NYC, the New York documentary festival that opened its virtual doors yesterday. It may be too early to see what the Best International Feature category delivers us this year (as of right now the number of submissions sits at 43), but the three films here representing Kenya, Romania, and Venezuela are all strong and fine contenders. In fact, there is at least one title here that I reckon could deliver for its home country—one that has been routinely ‘snubbed’ by the category, so much so that they changed the rules. Could this be their year for redemption with one of the best movies of 2020?

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