Intl' Oscar Updates: Bulgaria, Chile, Palestine, Philippines, Spain

by Nathaniel R

Multiple but brief International Oscar updates for you this fine Monday morning. We'd previously discussed the possibilities from Switzerland and three finalists from Czech Republic. Both countries have now made their decisions. Switzerland is going with The Late Shift, a hospital drama starring Leonie Benesch (September 5, Babylon Berlin). Czech Republic refused the recommendation from their Academy (which was trying to steer their votes to a different film) and went with the experimental documentary I'm Not Everything I Want To Be by Klára Tasovská which focuses on a photographer that's considered the 'Czech Nan Goldin.'

But that's not all...

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Cannes Diary 09: Un Certain Regard Winner "The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo"

by Elisa Giudici

The freshly crowned winner of Un Certain Regard at Cannes, is one of several films this year to allegorically reimagine the trauma of the generation lost to AIDS, Diego Céspedes' debut feature is set in 1982 Chile. Céspedes envisions a tavern frequented by trans women who challenge and seduce the rugged local miners. These miners, despite formally opposing their presence, seem unable to resist their allure. Flamingo is the drag queen mother to the film’s young protagonist, who is raised by a vibrant collective of performers and sex workers known by animalistic names like Mama Boa, Spider, and Flamingo herself, whose gaze is said to hold an almost spellbinding power. Tragically she has already been touched by "the plague," the epidemic that also ravages the miners...

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Best Ibero-American Film?

by Nathaniel R

Kill the Jockey and I'm Still Here are hoping for both Oscar & Goya nominations

The Spanish Film Academy Goya Awards (essentially Spain's Oscars) aren't held until February 8, 2025 but they've released a list of the eligible titles for their "Best Ibero-American Film" category. This category has been around since the beginning of the Goyas with Argentina, Mexico, and Chile frequently favored among nominees and winners of the category.  Here are the 2024 entries they'll choose between for the Ibero-American nominations for the 39th annual Goya Awards...

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TIFF '23: Shadows of Our Violent Past

by Cláudio Alves

Examining troubled history through art can be a necessary confrontation, even a search for catharsis. You can't move into a brighter future without acknowledging the shadows lurking in the past. It's no wonder, then, that countless filmmakers use their skills to make these excavations on the dig site of the screen. For all that Shinya Tsukamoto's Shadow of Fire and Felipe Gálvez Haberle's The Settlers tackle their respective countries' histories, they're not traditional period pieces content to passively restage yesteryears. They bear the weight of an artist's singular vision…

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Doc Corner: Maite Alberdi’s 'The Eternal Memory'

By Glenn Charlie Dunks

After garnering a (somewhat surprising?) Oscar nomination for The Mole Agent in 2020, Chilean director Maite Alberdi’s next feature was always going to be on people’s radar. With The Eternal Memory she has yet again returned to stories of the elderly in society. Unlike Mole, which had a comedic touch (I’m surprised Diane Keaton hasn’t optioned the film rights), The Eternal Memory is strictly dramatic in its telling of the ravages of Alzheimer’s Disease to one of her home country’s most celebrated journalists and authors, Augusto Góngora.

As you might expect, this isn’t an easy watch. Anybody who has seen what dementia does to a person will recognise many of its subject’s hardest moments. It’s probably a hardened soul who wouldn’t shed a tear by its end.

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