ANOTHER UPDATE: Thanks to emails for keeping me on track here, but there are some titles I failed to mention. The number is up to 40 now.
EARLIER: Anne Thompson is reporting that Denmark has submitted “Terribly Happy.” And Nat has Mexico’s entry as “Backyard.” Make it 31 films.
STILL EARLIER: Guy is so much better at keeping track of this stuff than I am. But some things of note recently:
Serbia has switched it’s entrant from “Here and There” to “Sveti Georgije ubiva azdahu” (“St. George Shoots the Dragon”).
“Ded na Si Lolo” will represent the Philippines and Canada has selected “I Killed My Mother.”
indieWIRE is keeping a nice list of films going, but generally speaking, no one does this category better than Nat Rogers at The Film Experience.
One newsy-ish item: There is talk of “London River” potentially being the Algerian entry. More than 50% of the film is in French, so it’s possible (and would make a handsome nominee, in my opinion).
Full list of submitted titles after the jump.
Armenia (“Autumn of the Magician”)
Austria (“For a Moment, Freedom”)
Belgium (“The Misfortunates”)
Bolivia (“Southern Zone”)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (“Guardians of the Night”)
Brazil (“Salve Geral”)
Bulgaria (“The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner”)
Canada (“I Killed my Mother”)
Chile (“Dawson, Island 10”)
Denmark (“Terribly Happy”)
Finland (“Letters to Father Jacob”)
France (“A Prophet”)
Germany (“The White Ribbon”)
Hong Kong (“Prince of Tears”)
Hungary (“Chameleon”)
India (“Harishchandrachi Factory”)
Iran (“About Elly”)
Japan (“Nobody to Watch Over Me”)
Kazakhstan (“Kelin”)
Korea (“Mother”)
Lithuania (“Waterhole”)
Luxembourg (“Réfractaire”)
Mexico (“Backyard”)
Morocco (“Casanegra”)
Netherlands (“The Silent Army”)
Philippines (“Ded na Si Lolo”)
Poland (“Rewers”)
Portugal (“Doomed Love”)
Romania (“Police, Adjective”)
Serbia (“St. George Shoots the Dragon”)
Slovakia (“Broken Promise”)
Slovenia (“Landscape No. 2”)
South Africa (“White Wedding”)
Sri Lanka (“Flowers in the Sky”)
Sweden (“Involuntary”)
Switzerland (“Home”)
Taiwan (“No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti”)
Thailand (“Best in Time”)
Turkey (“I Saw the Sun”)
Venezuela (“Libertador Morales, El Justiciero”)
Comments
12 responses to “Foreign film news and notes — 40 films so far”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_submissions_to_the_82nd_Academy_Awards_for_Best_Foreign_Language_Film
over 40 submissions on wikipedia already.
According to the list at thefilmexperience Mexico chose Backyard. I have heard some pretty good things about it.
I thought they were going to pick “Rudo Y Cursi” but thank goodness they didn’t.
As expected, Denmark has chosen Terribly Happy. It won the main award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and the best director award at the Chicago Film Festival last year. It also won the best picture of the year award from both the Danish Film Academy and the film critics. Director Henrik Ruben Genz was nominated for an Oscar in 2000 for best short film.
Personally I love the film and it has been compared to the works of both the Coen-brothers and David Lynch.
I’d love to see Finland get nominated. I’ve never seen a Finnish film before, and I feel it’s the overshadowed Scandinavian country, so it deserves some time in the spotlight :P.
Wait, that film “Lebanon”…what country does that belong to, Germany or Israel? That and “A Prophet” excite me the most.
Lebanon is Israel. Was it officially submitted?
I guess not yet, but I truly hope so. It seems like it could be one of the top candidates if it is.
Just checked Film Experience. Nate’s saying it’s most likely, but there are other possibilities. After the Venice win, though, they’d probably have a guaranteed in, marking their third consecutive entry in the race. That’d be tubular.
http://filmexperience.blogspot.com/2009/09/foreign-film-oscar-submissions-story-so.html
Make that 39: http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/awards/contenders/?id=424
The Netherlands entry is actually called “The Silent Army” it’s the same film, only a different, more internationally appealing cut.
I’m amazed and puzzled as to why the Philippines would field “Ded Na Si Lolo,” which only means that I’ll really have to see the movie.
If people notice Terribly Happy, I think it has a fairly decent shot of making it to the top five.
I haven’t seen “Backyard”, but I’m surprised Mexico didn’t pick “Sin Nombre” (assuming it’s eligible for this year). Maybe its subject matter was too intense for the Academy?