Each Oscar-recognized country in the world is allowed to submit one film of its choosing to be considered for final nomination, and the results are in for 2005. What, you ask? It’s only October? True, but who takes this event–or this category–very seriously anyway? Still…some nice choices and some titles to keep an eye out for. –Doug
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Beverly Hills, CA ó A record fifty-eight countries from four continents, including new entrants Costa Rica, Fiji and Iraq, have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film Award category, Academy President Sid Ganis announced today.
The 2005 submissions are:
Argentina, “El Aura,” Fabian Bielinsky, director;
Bangladesh, “Shyamol Chaya,” Humayun Ahmed, director;
Belgium, “The Child,” Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, directors;
Bolivia, “Say Good Morning to Dad,” Fernando Vargas, director;
Bosnia & Herzegovina, “Totally Personal,” Nedûad Begovic, director;
Brazil, “Two Sons of Francisco,” Breno Silveira, director;
Bulgaria, “Stolen Eyes,” Radoslav Spassov, director;
Canada, “C.R.A.Z.Y.,” Jean-Marc VallÈe, director;
Chile, “Play,” Alicia Scherson, director;
China, “The Promise,” Chen Kaige, director;
Colombia, “La Sombra del Caminante,” Ciro Guerra, director;
Costa Rica, “Caribe,” Esteban RamÌrez, director;
Croatia, “A Wonderful Night in Split,” Arsen Anton Ostojic, director;
Cuba, “Viva Cuba,” Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti, director;
Czech Republic, “Something Like Happiness,” Bohdan Sl·ma, director;
Denmark, “Adam’s Apples,” Anders Thomas Jensen, director;
Estonia, “Shop of Dreams,” Peeter Urbla, director;
Fiji, “The Land Has Eyes,” Vilsoni Hereniko, director;
Finland, “Mother of Mine,” Klaus H‰rˆ, director;
France, “Joyeux Noel,” Christian Carion, director;
Georgia, “Tbilisi-Tbilisi,” Levan Zakareishvili, director;
Germany, “Sophie Scholl ñ The Final Days,” Marc Rothemund, director;
Hong Kong, “Perhaps Love,” Peter Ho-Sun Chan, director;
Hungary, “Fateless,” Lajos Koltai, director;
Iceland, “Ahead of Time,” ¡g˙st Gudmundsson, director;
India, “Paheli,” Amol Palekar, director;
Indonesia, “Gie,” Riri Riza, director;
Iran, “So Close, So Far,” Reza Mir Karimi, director;
Iraq, “Requiem of Snow,” Jamil Rostami, director;
Israel, “What a Wonderful Place,” Eyal Halfon, director;
Italy, “La Bestia Nel Cuore,” Cristina Comencini, director;
Japan, “Blood and Bones,” Yoichi Sai, director;
Korea, “Welcome to Dongmakgol,” Kwang-hyun Park, director;
Luxembourg, “Renart the Fox,” Thierry Schiel, director;
Mexico, “Al Otro Lado,” Gustavo Loza, director;
Mongolia, “The Cave of the Yellow Dog,” Byambasuren Davaa, director;
The Netherlands, “Bluebird,” Mijke de Jong, director;
Norway, “Kissed by Winter,” Sara Johnsen, director;
Palestine, “Paradise Now,” Hany Abu-Assad, director;
Peru, “DÌas de Santiago,” JosuÈ MÈndez, director;
Poland, “The Collector,” Feliks Falk, director;
Portugal, “Noite Escura,” Jo„o Canijo, director;
Puerto Rico, “Cayo,” Vicente Juarbe, director;
Romania, “The Death of Mr. Lazarescu,” Cristi Puiu, director;
Russia, “The Italian,” Andrei Kravchuk, director;
Serbia & Montenegro, “Midwinter Night’s Dream,” Goran Paskaljevi?, director;
Singapore, “Be with Me,” Eric Khoo, director;
Slovak Republic, “The City of the Sun,” Martin äulÌk, director;
Slovenia, “The Ruins,” Janez Burger, director;
South Africa, “Tsotsi,” Gavin Hood, director;
Spain, “Obaba,” Montxo Armend·riz, director;
Sweden, “Zozo,” Josef Fares, director;
Switzerland, “Tout un Hiver sans Feu,” Greg Zglinski, director;
Taiwan, “The Wayward Cloud,” Tsai Ming-liang, director;
Tajikistan, “Sex & Philosophy,” Mohsen Makhmalbaf, director;
Thailand, “The Tin Mine,” Jira Maligool, director;
Turkey, “Lovelorn,” Yavuz Turgul, director;
Vietnam, “Buffalo Boy,” Nguyen Vo Nghiem Mihn, director.
The 78th Academy AwardÆ nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 31, 2006, at 5:30 a.m. PST, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.