Wow, the Oscar off-season gets shorter by the year. Before we know it, they’ll generously let us have a single night’s sleep after the ceremony before plunging us into campaign hell.
Of course, I exaggerate — this is hardly news to set pundits’ pulses racing. Still, last year we at least got to wait until late August before the convoluted (and invariably disheartening) process of assembling the contenders for Best Foreign Language Film began with Denmark submitting first. (And promptly sinking without trace.)
This year, Sri Lanka comes first — and early — out the gate by naming its official Oscar submission as “Flowers of the Sky,” a melodrama from director Prasanna Vithanage than screened earlier this year at the Palm Springs fest. The flim’s site describes it as follows:
Faded film star Sandhya Rani (Malani Fonseka) unexpectedly sees her profile rise again when she is embroiled in controversy. As a media-crazy nation draws her into its net, she is confronted with a changed, compromised industry – more commercialized, media savvy and value-less. As she faces her new found fame, Sandhya comes to confront her darkest demons – and also herself…