84th Academy Awards – ‘Best Foreign Language Film’

A foreign language film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States of America with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.

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Eligibility:

Each country shall be invited to submit its best motion picture to the Academy.  Selection of that picture shall be made by one organization, jury or committee that should include artists and/or craftspeople from the field of motion pictures.  A list of the selection committee members must be submitted to the Academy no later than August 1, 2011.

Only one picture will be accepted from each country.

The motion picture must be first released in the country submitting it no earlier than October 1, 2010, and no later than September 30, 2011, and be first publicly exhibited for at least seven consecutive days in a commercial motion picture theater for the profit of the producer and exhibitor.  It must be exhibited by means of 35mm or 70mm film or in a 24- or 48-frame progressive scan Digital Cinema format with a minimum projector resolution of 2048 by 1080 pixels, source image format conforming to SMPTE 428-1-2006 D-Cinema Distribution Master – Image Characteristics; image compression (if used) conforming to ISO/IEC 15444-1 (JPEG 2000), and image and sound file formats suitable for exhibition in commercial Digital Cinema sites.  The audio in a typical Digital Cinema Package (DCP) is 5.1 channels of discrete audio, and that is the preferred audio configuration. The minimum for a non-mono configuration of the audio shall be three channels as Left, Center, Right (a Left/Right configuration is not acceptable in a theatrical environment).  The audio data shall be formatted in conformance with SMPTE 428-2-2006 D-Cinema Distribution Master – Audio Characteristics and SMPTE 428-3-2006 D-Cinema Distribution Master – Audio Channel Mapping and Channel Labeling.

The picture must be advertised and exploited during its eligibility run in a manner considered normal and customary to the industry.  The picture need not have been released in the United States.

No type of television or Internet transmission may occur at any time prior to the motion picture’s theatrical release.

The recording of the original dialogue track as well as the completed picture must be predominantly in a language or languages other than English. Accurate English subtitles are required.

The submitting country must certify that creative control of the motion picture was largely in the hands of citizens or residents of that country.

The Academy will make the final determination in all questions of eligibility.

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Voting Procedures:

All submissions sent to the Academy will be screened by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Committee(s).  After the screenings, the committee(s) will vote by secret ballot to nominate five foreign language motion pictures for this award.

Final voting for the Foreign Language Film award shall be restricted to active and life Academy members who have attended Academy screenings, or other exhibition, of all five motion pictures films nominated for the award.

Viewing Foreign Language Film entries on videocassette or DVD will NOT qualify a member for voting purposes in this category.

The Academy Statuette (Oscar) will be awarded to the motion picture and accepted by the director on behalf of the picture’s creative talents.

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Nominations:

Bullhead (Belgium) in Dutch and French – Michaël R. Roskam

• 1^st nomination for Michaël
• 7^th nomination for Belgium, 0 wins.
• Won the Austin Fantastic Fest and Motovun Film Festival.
• Nominated for the Molodist International Film Festical. 

It tells the story of the young Limburg cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille who is approached by an unscrupulous veterinarian to make a shady deal with a notorious West-Flemish beef trader. But the assassination of a federal policeman, and an unexpected confrontation with a mysterious secret from Jacky's past, set in motion a chain of events with far-reaching consequences.

Footnote (Israel) in Hebrew – Joseph Cedar

• 1^st nomination for Joseph.
• 10^th nomination for Israel, 0 wins.
• Won 9 of 12 Awards of the Israeli Film Academy, including Best Picture.
• Won Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Palme d’Or.
• Currently nominated for Best Screenplay at the Indie Spirit Awards.
• Names on of the top five Foreign Language films of the year by the National Board of Review.

The plot revolves around a power struggle between a father and son who teach at the Talmud department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In Darkness (Poland) in Polish – Agnieszka Holland

• 1^st nomination for Agnieszka.
• 9^th nomination for Poland, 0 wins.
• Won Camerimage and the St. Louis International Film Festival.
• Nominated for the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and three Genie Awards.

 The film, based on a true incident in German Nazi-occupied Poland, 

Monsieur Lazhar (Canada) in French – Philippe Falardeau

1^st nomination for Philippe.

6^th nomination, 1 win for ‘The Barbarian Invasions’ in 2003.

Won Best Screenplay and Best Film at the Valladolid International Film Festival.

Nominated for 9 Genie Awards.

The screenplay was developed from a one-character play by Évelyne de la Chenelière.

A Separation (Iran) in Persian – Asghar Farhadi

• 1^st nomination for Asghar.
• 2^nd nomination for Iran, 0 wins.
• Has won 42 International Film Awards, so far, including Golden Bear, at the Berlin International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Golden Globe, and the National Board of Review.
• Nominated for 20 other International awards.

 It focuses on an Iranian middle-class couple who separate, and the intrigues which follow when the husband hires a lower-class caretaker for his elderly father. 

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Snubs:

BAFTA winning Foreign Language Film The Skin I Live In, starring Antonio Banderas and directed by Pedro Almodovar, who has been previously nominated for Best Director and won Best Original Screen play for Talk to Her, was clearly snubbed by the Academy. 

That said, it certainly hasn’t been as celebrated as A Separation but it definitely the second most successful Foreign Film of the year.

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Oscar Trends:

With 42 wins under its belt, A Separation is the clear front runner.  In addition this film is also nominated for Best Original Screenplay, which give his an even strong edge moving into the Oscars.  I would be very surprised if another film won.

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Prediction: 

• Winner:  A Separation (Iran) in Persian – Asghar Farhadi
• Runner-Up:  Footnote (Israel) in Hebrew – Joseph Cedar
• Wild Card: In Darkness (Poland) in Polish – Agnieszka Holland
• Unlikely:  Monsieur Lazhar (Canada) in French – Philippe Falardeau
• No Chance in Hell:  Bullhead (Belgium) in Dutch and French – Michaël R. Roskam

Click HERE for a full list of my Oscar predictions.