Thursday, September 5, 2024 at 8:00AM by Nathaniel R
THREE KILOMETRES TO THE END OF THE WORLD © Vlad Dumitrescu
It's that time of year when countries are regularly announcing their Oscar submission. We started the week with 15 contenders but now we're at 18 and we have three new finalist lists, as well...
Sunday, September 1, 2024 at 5:27PM by Nathaniel R
Though I know I've been absent from writing, I have been updating the International Feature Film Oscar charts to track the submissions. So far 15 countries have announced their submissions, some of which are available to US viewers. After the jump, the list so far, impending decisions from Israel and South Korea, and general observations...
Friday, August 30, 2024 at 3:00PM 
THE BURITI FLOWER is one of Portugal's five finalists.
As the Best International Film Oscar race starts to take shape, the Portuguese Academy has begun the process of choosing the country's official submission. This year's selection committee was composed of nine individuals, all of whom work in the Portuguese film industry. The group ranged from directors to a distributor, encompassing actors, producers, a writer, and even a cinematographer. They include Cristèle Alves Meira, the Listen director who won gold two years ago in Venice; Luís Gaivão Teles, whose documentation of the 1974 Revolution is a precious historical artifact; and DP José Tiago whose filmography contains the Meryl Streep-led The House of the Spirits and our first-ever Oscar submission, Manhã Submersa.
They have selected five features in hopes of breaking Portugal's unfortunate record, but it's now up to the Portuguese Academy membership to vote on the final choice. Will we stop being the country with the most submissions without a single nomination? Oh well, hope is everlasting. In any case, let's meet the finalists…
Friday, August 2, 2024 at 9:00PM 
THE DEVIL'S BATH (2024) Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala
And just like that, we're off to the races. Though the 97th Academy Awards are still half a year away, the deadline for countries to submit titles for the Best International Film category is much closer. Nations have until October 4th to choose their representative feature, which must have enjoyed a minimum seven-day theatrical release before the September 30th deadline. Considering those timeframes, it's expected that the next few months will be full of submission news as the world prepares for a cinematic Olympics of sorts. This year, Ireland and Austria are the first countries to announce their official Oscar contenders…
Saturday, March 2, 2024 at 8:00PM No two people feels the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of this year’s Oscar movies. Here's Ben Miller and Nick Taylor on The Zone of Interest...
BEN: Hey Nick! I will freely admit that The Zone of Interest haunted me in a way that I won't soon forget. I consider it among the absolute best of the year and one of the most impactful Holocaust films to come out in some time. The praise for the film is near universal, so I know that you thought it was just as exceptional as I did. We can be in agreement, and then call it a day. Quick and painless...you thoughts?
NICK: I am definitely haunted by it! There’s plenty to admire in Jonathan Glazer’s direction, and I can’t deny I was taken aback by its provocations when I watched it. But even without the comparison to Glazer’s previous stone-cold masterpieces, I felt myself disengaging from the movie’s rhythms as it went on. Intellectually, I get why we’re kept at such a remove from the Höss family, and what the oppressive sound design and spycam cinematography are meant to convey about these people. I swear I do. But this did not connect with me the way it clearly has with you, and I would love to hear more about why this is one of the best movies of the year for you . . . .
