New International Contenders: "The Hand of God" and an extremely hot Instagram star

by Nathaniel R

Time to check in again with Oscar submissions as five more countries join the fray. The highest profile new entry is Italy's The Hand of God by Paolo Sorrentino. He triumphed in this category eight years back with The Great Beauty (2013) which ended the longest drought -- seven years -- that Italy has ever had in this particular competition. If The Hand of God snags the nomination, Sorrentino will have performed this feat twice since Italy hasn't been nominated since. Sorrentino joins Iran's Asghar Farhadi (A Hero) as the only International contender this season who has already led a film to victory in this category.  The Hand of God is a memoir about Sorrentino's teenage years and a family tragedy. He's been campaigning enthusiastically since Cannes, recently attending the Middleburg Film Festival to receive an International Spotlight prize.

Other new contenders are after the jump...

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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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"Drive My Car" and "A Hero" lead Asia Pacific Screen Awards nominations

by Nathaniel R

This season's Japanese and Iranian Oscar submissions, Drive My Car and A Hero respectively, now lead the nominations for the 14th annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA). These awards consider 70 countries and areas that together represent billions of people and half of the world's film production. Their nominations are heavy with titles that debut at Cannes this year and many of the titles are also Oscar submissions this season from their respective countries.  

The complete list of nominees is after the jump...

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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...

Asian Film Awards: "Wife of a Spy" and "Voice of Silence" are winners

by Nathaniel R

The Asian Film Awards, which used to be held early in the year are now a fall event, organized jointly with the Hong Kong, Busan, and Tokyo Film Festivals. The prizes were divvied up across multiple countries so there's a little something for everyone though the big winner was Japan's Wife of a Spy (a winner at Venice in 2020) which took Best Film, Best Actress, and Best Costume Design and recently had a brief US theatrical release from Kino Lorber. South Korea's Voice of Silence also made a fine showing taking Best New Director and Best Actor for popular 35 year-old star Yoo Ah-In (Burning and #Alive). Most of the films honored are 2020 films so dont expect much of a direct correlation between what countries submit to the Oscars this year as most of these were eligible for submission last season. The full list of nominees and winners is after the jump... 

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