How to fix the Best International Film category?

by Cláudio Alves

This year, the Best International Film category celebrated a record-setting number of submissions - 93 in total. 2019 has also been marked by the renaming of the award, which was previously called the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, as well as some new rules that slightly change the voting process. However, one of the unhappiest yearly traditions associated with this honor refuses to go away. Once more, some films are being disqualified.

Nigeria's Lionheart isn't eligible for the Oscar. This is particularly terrible when one considers it's the first submission from one of the few African nations with a thriving film industry. Not surprisingly, the decision has generated quite a bit of controversy, with such renowned filmmakers as Ava DuVernay criticizing it…

Click to read more ...

Best International Feature: New Rules, New Possibilities

by Cláudio Alves

Will the new rules booster Parasite's Oscar chances?

As we get closer to the peak of Awards Season, the Academy has been divulging new rules and approaches to their voting process. Most of the changes have to do with online accessibility to screeners, making it easier for the voters to have seen the films before sending in their ballots. One of the categories most affected by these changes is that of the recently renamed Best International Feature Oscar.

For one, the shortlist, which will be announced on December 16th, has been expanded from 9 to 10 films. Voters who want to help delineate this selection will have to watch at least 15 of the record-breaking 93 submitted features. Seven finalists will be selected by these voters, while the other three will be “saved” by a special committee.

That’s hardly different from the previous process. The relatively big change happens after the shortlist has been decided…

Click to read more ...

Review: "The Domain," Portugal's Oscar Submission

by Cláudio Alves

The Domain opens with the sort of scene that works as a mission statement. Its first image seems like something out of a western, a vast landscape, the horizon slashed by the silhouette of a great big tree. From one of its branches, a body hangs by a noose. It’s the eldest son of the rich owner of all the land we can see. The father, far from being heartbroken, watches on dispassionately, a glint of disappointment in his eye.

In an act of cruelty, the patriarch forces his youngest son to confront the corpse of his brother, his weak brother. Frightened, young João runs away from the morbid tableaux, taking refuge in the mossy ruins that stand in the middle of a nearby river. Death, parental cruelty, coldness confused with strength and an escape from the horror of reality to the warm embrace of a long-forgotten past - such are the main themes of this epic, shot like a western and paced like a funeral...

Click to read more ...