Foreign Film Race Pt 4: Female Directors and Oscar Submissions

Everything you wanted to know about the foreign language film race ...but were afraid to ask*

Toni Erdman, one of 14 films in the Foreign race directed by women, is widely expected to be nominatedPt 1 All the trailers -Albania to Italy
Pt 2 All the trailers - Japan to Yemen
Pt 3 Debut directors

Though Hollywood has an appaling track record when it comes to female representation behind the camera, other countries actually fare a lot better in this regard. Oh sure, it's still not as easy as it is for the men, but each and every year we see several female filmmakers from various countries around the Globe chosen as the best representative of their country's cinema. Now try to imagine how rarely that would happen if the USA had to export only one film to represent them annually. Hard to imagine isn't it? The only times it might conceivably have happened would have been Lost in Translation (2003) which lost best picture to a New Zealand production or The Hurt Locker (2009) which actually won best picture.

Denmark's PAW (1959) and Italy's SEVEN BEAUTIES (1976) were Oscar firsts for women

The 20 Oscar Nominated Foreign Language Films Directed By Women (and this year's hopefuls) after the jump. If you've ever wanted to do that 52 films by women viewing challenge some great ideas follow...

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Foreign Film Race Pt 3: It's your first feature and you're already submitted for an Oscar!

Everything you wanted to know about the foreign language film race ...but were afraid to ask*

Ivan Marinovic (Montenegro)Pt 1 All the trailers -Albania to Italy
Pt 2 All the trailers - Japan to Yemen

Pt 3. Filmmaking is a tough business. While the size and scope of opportunities within filmmaking industries varies tremendously across the borders, it's tough everywhere as creative careers inevitably are. So imagine then that you've finally managed to make a feature film after probably years of study and practice on shorts or frustrating fundraising efforts. Then pretend that the first time behind the camera in the narrative feature level results in your home country choosing you to represent them at the Oscars! That's incredible.

So a hearty congratulations to the 23 following first timers whose films have been selected to compete in Oscar's Best Foreign Language Film Race...

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Foreign Film Race Pt 2: All the Trailers (Japan to Vietnam)

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Foreign Language Film Category... *But Were Afraid to Ask

Pt 1 All the Trailers (Albania to Italy)

Pt 2 All the Trailers (Japan through Vietnam)
Here are all the trailers in one place! (Well two places. Part one has the first half. While you watch these we're sprucing up the Official Submission Charts right now to make them cleaner with the full list now that the Academy has made the list official.  Which of the 85 films (a record!) are you eager to see? Which do you think Oscar might also warm to? 

See more trailers than you can watch in one sitting after after the jump!

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Foreign Film Race Pt 1: All the Trailers (Albania to Italy)

Everything You Wanted to Know About the Foreign Language Film Category... *But Were Afraid to Ask

It's official. 85 countries will compete for this year's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. The 85 films will be narrowed down to 9 finalist in December with the actual nominations announced in January.

Are they any changes from our previous elaborate chart tracking? Yes. There are always a few surprises. Previously announced titles that are not on the list for reasons we're not sure about yet are Afghanistan's Parting , Armenia's The Earthquake and Tunisia's As I Open My Eyes.  Titles that we didn't have advanced notice about that are on the list are Cambodia's Before the Fall and Yemen's I Am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced which is Yemen's very first submission. 

Here are all the trailers in one place. We're helpful that way...

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NYFF: Sonia Braga in "Aquarius"

Manuel here reporting from the New York Film Festival and reminding you that Sonia Braga is a goddess of cinema 

Aquarius is the name of a building in Recife where Doña Clara (a resplendent Sonia Braga) has made her life. The apartment she lives in, which is littered with books and old LPs (she was once a famed music journalist), once belonged to her aunt. Indeed, Kleber Mendonça Filho first introduces us to the Aquarius and to the apartment back when Clara was a young woman who’d recently battled breast cancer, a key detail her aunt brings up in the midst of a birthday celebration. In this lively opening sequence, the camera pauses on an old furniture piece before giving us a glimpse of even livelier days of the older woman celebrating her birthday surrounded by family. We see a memory flash before us of a heated sexual encounter, her lingering gaze having triggered an old but cherished memory...

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