Poland & Ecuador make their Oscar picks

by Nathaniel R

Poland won their first Oscar in the Best International Feature Film category for Ida (2014) eight years ago and surely came closer than expected to a second win four years ago with a late surge for the brilliant Cold War (2018) which also scored Best Director and Best Cinematography nominations. In fact, Poland has had a major comeback with the Oscars in the past 15 years, racking of nearly half of their nomination total after a quarter century drought from the last time the Academy couldn't get enough of their cinema back in the mid seventies to early eighties.  Can they keep their hot streak going with the buzzy donkey point-of-view feature, EO... 

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Spain announces its three Oscar finalists. Plus: Spain's Oscar history

by Nathaniel R

Earlier today in Spain, the actress Maria Pedraza Morillo (Money Heist, Elite) had the privilege of announcing the three films that will compete to become Spain's Oscar submission for 2022. These three films were selected from a pool of 43 films (we have not been able to find the longlist) and now they will be narrowed down to one by September 13th as the members of Spain's Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences vote. Which of the following three do you think it will be? 

Details on their choices after the jump...

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Canada and Germany pick their Oscar horses

We're up to seven official contenders in Oscar's Best International Feature Film category. Only 85ish more to go! Canada and Germany have made their selections, one is surprising the other is exactly what everyone expected...

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The European Film Awards Longlist

by Nathaniel R

This year's European Film Awards ceremony (which moves locales each season) will take place in Rekyjavik, Iceland on December 10th. Though nominations won't be announced until November 8th, we now know 30 of the titles that are being considered for those nominations (another dozen are usually added to the list before voting though). On the following list you'll see a couple of 2021 Oscar titles but that's because the EFA's calendar runs summer to summer and is less concerned with release dates than with world premieres (which is smart given that so many different countries are involved); films which had their first official screenings between June 1st, 2021 and May 31st, 2022 qualify. The EFA Awards are always interesting because they are fairly unpredictable and have no concerns with being an Oscar bellwether though some of the titles vying for prizes each year end up as Oscar submissions from their respective countries.

The list is after the jump (links go to reviews or coverage if we've done any)...

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Uruguay submits "The Employer and the Employee"

Our fifth official submission for the 95th Oscars Best International Feature Film race has been announced.

🇺🇾 THE EMPLOYER AND THE EMPLOYEE
Uruguay (nothing from 22 submissions... though they had technially had 1 nominee but it was subsequently disqualified)

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