Interview: Director Eran Kolirin on Israel’s Oscar Submission "Let It Be Morning"

By Abe Friedtanzer

The winner of Israel’s Oscars, the Ophir Awards, automatically goes on to become the country’s Oscar submission for Best International Feature. This year, that film is Let It Be Morning, which made headlines at Cannes because its Palestinian cast refused to attend, objecting to it being labeled an Israeli film. Those who have seen the film will surely appreciate that this attitude is expected and and very much in the spirit of the film’s content. I had the chance to speak with the film's Israeli director, Eran Kolirin (pictured left) who is best known for writing and directing The Band’s Visit. His new film premieres this week in New York City at the Other Israel Film Festival… 

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Portugal chooses "The Metamorphosis of Birds" for Oscar

by Cláudio Alves

When reading the list of films shortlisted for the Portuguese Oscar submission, I confess I was a tad disheartened. Only two of the six films had even been released when the finalists were announced, and I only had watched one of them. The other happens to be a project that reeks of exploitation, which I wasn't enthusiastic about promoting. At least, the film I did see, Catarina Vasconcelos' The Metamorphosis of Birds, was one I loved, going so far as voting for it as one of the best unreleased films on last year's Team Experience Awards. As luck would have it, the voting body responsible for the submission fell for it too…

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"Flee", "Worst Person...", and more join the Best International Feature Film Oscar competition

by Nathaniel R

It's official. Finally. Two truly excellent Scandinavian films are joining the Oscar competition. Norway's Cannes sensation Worst Person in the World, a romantic dramedy from the great Joachim Trier (Reprise, Oslo August 31st, Thelma), and the animated documentary Flee about a gay Afghan refugee who made his home in Denmark are now officially in the hunt for Oscar glory. The Best International Feature Film category is always hugely competitive and the voting system is complex so there are never any "locks" but both films have a headstart at making the 15 wide finalist list; they're already widely seen and wildly acclaimed from their multiple festival outings. Flee will actually be gunning for multiple nominations as it could theoretically compete for the two other specialty feature categories:  Documentary and Animated Feature.

Norway and Denmark aren't the only countries to announce over the past few days. After the jump twelve other Oscar hopefuls from around the Globe...

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On "Marriage Italian Style" and "The Shop on Main Street"

by Nathaniel R

Have you either of these classics of mid 60s international cinema? In one of the strangest timetables in Oscar history, both of these two film's leading ladies were honored with Best Actress Oscar nominations but neither in the year their film was honored:  Sophia Loren (Marriage Italian Style) was nominated for Best Actress in 1964; Ida Kaminska (The Shop on Main Street) was nominated for Best Actress in 1966; inbetween those Oscar years the films themselves were nominated for Best Foreign Language Film of 1965 (now called Best International Feature Film).  

I was thrilled to rejoin Juan Carlos Ojano on "One Inch Barrier" to discuss 1965's Best international race, a strong vintage, which also included the family drama Blood on the Land (Greece), the very horny Dear John (Sweden), and the supernatural Kwaidan (Japan). We discuss Best Actress, Oscar's resistance to Asian cinema, sex in cinema, and Sophia Loren's magnetism...

International Oscar Contenders: "A Hero" and "Bad Luck Banging on Loony Porn" join the fray

by Nathaniel R

A HERO (2021) comes from Iran's Oscar-winning champ Asghar Farhadi

Next week we have scheduled Oscar submission announcements from Denmark (we suspect Flee), Italy (we suspect Hand of God), Norway (we suspect Worst Person in the World) and Portugal (we suspect... no, we have no idea!) and on the latter we'll be hearing from Cláudio, your favourite Portuguese critic. But  let's not get ahead of ourselves. There is a lot to discuss RIGHT NOW in the International Feature Film Oscar Race as we now have seven more titles announced plus another finalist list. Which brings us to 51 movies so we're aware of over 50% of the competitive set now. News from Algeria, Belgium, India, Iran, Latvia, Palestine, Romania, and Sweden is after the jump...

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