Best International Feature: Denmark, Hong Kong, Norway

by Cláudio Alves

With the shortlists announced, we now know which of the 93 Best International Feature submissions still have a chance to contend for Oscar gold. AMPAS has selected 15 finalists, a third of which will be honored with an Academy Award nomination come March 15th. Here at The Film Experience, the team has reviewed most of the shortlisted titles. However, four still haven't been analyzed. To start correcting that, here's another trio of capsule reviews. It's time to explore the pictures submitted by Denmark, Hong Kong, and Norway… 

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Showbiz History: Casablanca, The King's Speech, and "We Found Love"

5 random things that happened on this day in showbiz history

1937 Nothing Sacred, one of the great screwball comedies of the 30s (but there are so many of them, he said with glee) opens in theaters after its NYC premiere the previous day. It was a personal favourite of Carole Lombard so in addition to being a genius actress, she had good taste in her own work. 

1942 Casablanca premieres in NYC. It has one of the weirdest Oscar timetables ever for a Best Picture winner...

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"Hope" and Norway's Oscar History

by Nathaniel R

The Norwegian Film Institute has selected Maria Sødahl's cancer drama Hope to represent them at the Oscars. The film stars Bræn Hovig and the ever-ubiquitous Stellan Skarsgård (who works as often in Scandinavia as he does in Hollywood, which is to say, a lot) as the couple thrown by a terrible diagnosis. Hope was selected over two other finalists which were: Disco by Jorunn Myklebust Syversen about a young girl mixed up with a Christian cult (which we reviewed at TIFF last fall), and Margreth Olin's documentary The Self Portrait about an acclaimed photographer struggling with anorexia. (Olin was submitted 11 years ago for her second narrative feature Angel though she's primarily a documentarian.)

1987 Norwegian nominee "Pathfinder"Norway has been perpetually overshadowed by Sweden and Denmark in terms of the cinema. They have a smaller film industry than their Scandinavian neighbors but the other problem is a noticeable lack of internationally-adored auteurs. We hoped that the rise of Joachim Trier would change that but, alas, the Oscars aren't helping in that regard as he's been submitted twice from his three Norwegian language films and the Academy passed both times.

Oscar stats and great Norwegian films after the jump...

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Streaming YA Randomnees: Locke & Key and Ragnarok

What entirely random thing have you found yourself watching lately? With every streaming service showing content from all over the world, it's increasingly rare for everyone to be on the same viewing journey...

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Best International Feature: Norway, Taiwan & Mexico's contenders

by Cláudio Alves

In a few days, we'll know the ten finalists for the Best International Feature Oscar. Until then, I shall continue exploring some of the 91 submissions. This batch includes last year's champion, Mexico, a prize-winning literary adaptation from Norway and a queer tragicomedy from Taiwan that's currently on Netflix. They're a varied bunch and represent the offerings of countries that have previously achieved great success with the Academy.

First, let's peruse the wintry wonders of the Scandinavian submission…

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