Ranking the International Feature Film Winners

by Juan Carlos Ojano

From De Sica to Hamaguchi, the past two years of hosting the podcast The One-Inch Barrier has allowed me to watch all that films that were selected by the Academy for its International Feature Film category - 74 winners and 337 nominees (all but one title). While this category has had its issues over the years, it has also put an international spotlight on non-English language cinema on Hollywood’s biggest night. While the category has  always been far from a perfect encapsulation of world cinema, it's a great jumping off point as noted in the series finale.  (Cláudio Alves did a beautiful summary of our discussion - video included!). 

Here is my personal not-that-definitive ranking of the winners of the category. Things are very fluid especially in the midsection... 

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The Honoraries: Liv Ullmann in "Persona"

We're celebrating each of the upcoming Honorary Oscar winners with a few pieces on their careers.

by Cláudio Alves

Sometimes, a film is so great that it robs you of words, leaves you speechless, struck dumb with awe. It's been a bit over two years since I've started writing for The Film Experience and, in that time, it's been a privilege to write about some of the best works of cinema I've ever seen. Ingmar Bergman's Persona tops them all and, when facing its wonder, it's hard to articulate anything. Perhaps no other film has been as tirelessly examined in the history of criticism, making it impossible to bring anything new to the discussion. And yet, it remains mysterious, as beguilingly unknowable as when it premiered in 1966. To try and write about it is a maddening exercise.

Even so, a celebration of Liv Ullmann wouldn't be complete without mentioning the first work in the artistic collaboration that forged her legend, that's at the center of her legacy…

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The One Inch Barrier: 'Nights of Cabiria' and 'The Seventh Seal'

by Nathaniel R

While we're sad about the current state of Oscar we still have 93 other years of Oscar history to obsess over. So I'm happy to share that I was invited back for a final appearance on "The One-Inch Barrier". Juan Carlos Ojano's podcast has looked at every Oscar race for Best International Feature Film while moving backward in time. Well almost every. There's still a few episodes to go. For this episode Juan Carlos and I talked about the nominated films of 1957 including The Gates of Paris (France), the noir The Devil Strikes at Night (Germany), the musical melodrama Mother India (India), the WW II survival drama Nine Lives (Norway), and the winning film Federico Fellini's enchanting Nights of Cabiria (Italy).

Ingmar Bergman's influential early classic The Seventh Seal was also submitted for the Oscars that year but the Academy unwisely passed. I have words about that. Hope you enjoy...

1961 Flashback: Best International Film

by Cláudio Alves

Did you know that Juan Carlos Ojano hosts one of the best film podcasts around? The One-Inch Barrier started last year, examining the Best International Film race, going backward in time. As its penultima season is drawing to an end, I was honored enough to return for my third stint as a guest.

The subject, this time, was Ingmar Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly, which won the Oscar in 1961, beating Denmark's Harry and the Butler, Japan's Immortal Love, Mexico's The Important Man, and Spain's Plácido. Though the Swedish flick about God's silence and Harriet Andersson's general awesomeness isn't an especially joyous piece, this was a fun, thoroughly entertaining conversation. Topics ranged from faith to class warfare, from ironic movie titles to Toshiro Mifune's hotness. There was even time to throw shade at some 2021 Oscar contenders, though I refuse to name the mediocrity in question. Take a listen:

What do you think of this Oscar lineup? Are you similarly drawn to the bleak conclusions of Through a Glass Darkly, or do you have another favorite from '61?

1983 Flashback: The Best International feature race

by Cláudio Alves

Have you ever seen a film so good it makes you happy to be alive? For me, Ingmar Bergman's Fanny & Alexander is one of those films. 

After I guested on the 2001 episode of The One-Inch Barrier, a podcast about the Best International Film category, the amazing Juan Carlos Ojano asked me to choose another year to do and I immediately knew I wanted to talk to him about 1983. Since last summer, I'm happy to say Juan Carlos and I have become friends, and there are few things I like to do more than sharing the movies I love with the people I love and there are few things I love more than Fanny & Alexander. I'd be even more joyful if you, lovely readers, could share in this lovefest for cinema. Join us as we travel back to the early 80s and talk about Bergman's legacy, World War II movies, the magic of dance on the big screen, and much more. Take a listen:

What do you think of this Oscar lineup? Are you as in love with Fanny & Alexander as I am or do you have another favorite from '83?