Top Ten: The Countries Oscar Forgot To Honor

by Nathaniel R

Any discussion of Oscar's Best International Feature Film competition throughout history begins with Italy and France. They dominated the early years and though they rarely win now they can still generate buzz with comparative ease (including this year with Hand of God and Titane). Oscar voters have (virtually) travelled to every continent and every major film market at least once or twice since the birth of the category in the 1950s. Their choices don't always reflect where the hot spots in world cinema are, though -- They notoriously missed the entirety of the Romanian New Wave in the Aughts, the provocative if brief Dogme 95 period in Denmark, apart from Japan they're super stingy with Asian cinema in general to the point where it took an international blockbuster ($259 million globably for Parasite) for them to finally notice what was happening in South Korea. Still, it's a fascinating category both for its triumphs and its failures.

All that said it's also worth repeating that no one is ever truly fair to Oscar in their critiques. It's an impossible sisphyean task to sum up the best of what's happening in non English language cinema throughout history via only five titles each season, especially since you can't control which titles will be in the mix and you cant have more than one per country. 

Here are the 10 admirably persistent countries that keep trying despite Oscar's refusal to acknowledge them. They've submitted the most often without receiving a single nomination. Will their fates change this year?

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FYC: "Drive My Car" for Best Adapted Screenplay

by Cláudio Alves

Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car, now in select theaters, is one of 2021's best films. Still, the Japanese Oscar submission is unlikely to feature much in the awards season beyond the International Film category. Or, at least, it seemed that would be the case. In a surprising turn of events, considering its fellow victors, Drive My Car won the New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Film. Whether this victory signals a shift in its fortunes is unclear. Though, if there was any justice in the world, Drive My Car would be one of the season's biggest contenders.

At the very least, it deserves strong consideration for its screenplay, an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's homonymous short story. From little more than 20 pages, Hamaguchi unspooled a majestic three-hour epic…

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Farewell, Emi Wada (1937-2021)

by Cláudio Alves

In 1986, at the 58th Academy Awards, Best Costume Design was the fourth category to be presented. The honor befell on Audrey Hepburn, who received a standing ovation upon her appearance. The shortlisted artists made up a prestigious lineup that included Oscar winners from years past, like Albert Wolsky and Milena Canonero. Considering Out of Africa's dominance over the night, one might have supposed its period fashions had the win in the bag. However, the Academy's long love affair with Japanese costuming bore fruit for a second time. Akira Kurosawa's last great epic, Ran, won its first and only Oscar, a merited recognition of Emi Wada's efforts. The designer had spent three years creating the thousands of pieces required by the bellicose narrative, using historically accurate techniques and custom textiles to produce a painterly masterpiece of color, motion, and striking silhouettes. 

As we remember Wada's much-deserved triumph, we do so in mourning. Her family announced that the 84-year-old costume designer died earlier this month, leaving behind a legendary career in Asian film, theater, and TV…

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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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