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In what has been the widest open Oscars\u2019 international feature category race in years, countries that previously had not been dominant in the category have emerged as strong contenders. <\/p>\n
For instance, Cambodia sent in Davy Chou\u2019s \u201cReturn to Seoul,\u201d which debuted at Cannes. The country has been nominated only once in this category, for 2013\u2019s \u201cThe Missing Picture.\u201d \u201cReturn to Seoul\u201d follows an adoptee who makes a journey of discovery from France to her Korean birth home. Star Park Ji-min makes a striking debut. Before the end of 2022, the film would have played at more than 60 noted festivals and it has been picking up awards on the way. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think the unpredictability of the narration, resulting from the unpredictability of Freddie, the main character of the film, her force and anger, her vitality and self-destructiveness, and the amazing performance of Park Ji-min who interprets her, are something the academy voters could feel sensitive to,\u201d Chou told Variety. \u201cSecondly, I\u2019m hoping the thematics the film is dealing with, from identity search and the longing for belonging, to broken families and the difficulties to connect, will resonate as well with the members watching the film.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut most importantly is I think the strong emotional response to the film, both from audiences who expressed it after screening or from film reviews. That shows us that the film seems to resonate deeply with a large audience, from various demographics, cultures and backgrounds,\u201d Chou says.<\/p>\n
The film is being distributed in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics. Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of the company describes Chou as a \u201cforce of nature.\u201d Barker points to the awards the film has won, particularly the audience prize at the Hamptons festival. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obvious, we have evidence that the movie is really well loved by the people we screen it for,\u201d Barker told Variety. \u201cThe more we screen the movie, the more chances it has both with the Academy and with the public, because the word-of-mouth is so good on it when it screens.\u201d The plan then is to screen it as much as possible. \u201cThe key to movies like this is to get people to see it, whether they\u2019re critics, whether they\u2019re Academy members or opinion makers to spread the word to the public. It\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
SPC is also giving Park a major profile and Barker highlights the nominations his company has secured over the years for lead actress, though he admits that it is an exceptionally strong year for the category. \u201cI think it really helps the profile of the film to highlight her, whether it\u2019s for the public or for the voters or for the critics, because she\u2019s that great. And she\u2019s very much the center of the film,\u201d Barker says. <\/p>\n
On the other hand, the farthest Ireland has come in the race was in 2015 when \u201cViva\u201d made the shortlist. This year, Colm Bair\u00e9ad\u2019s \u201cThe Quiet Girl\u201d has been gathering momentum since it made an award-winning debut in Berlin. It swept the Irish Film and Television Awards and was a box office success in the U.K. and Ireland and Australia and New Zealand at a time when the theatrical arthouse market is enduring great uncertainty. Set in rural Ireland circa 1981, the film follows a quiet, neglected girl is who is sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with foster parents for the summer. <\/p>\n
Bair\u00e9ad highlights the emotional nature of the film. \u201c\u2019The Quiet Girl\u2019 is, above all else, a deeply emotional film. We believe what makes the film truly special is the truthfulness with which it explores its themes and the manner in which it allows its audience to see the world through the eyes of a young child,\u201d Bair\u00e9ad told Variety. \u201cAs Roger Ebert famously said, cinema is a machine that can generate empathy. The impulse to make this film came entirely from that sentiment. \u2018The Quiet Girl\u2019 culminates in an ending that is, for many, emotionally overwhelming and it becomes a film that stays with its audience long after the credits have rolled.\u201d<\/p>\n
The plan for \u201cThe Quiet Girl,\u201d like \u201cReturn to Seoul\u201d is for as many voters to see it as possible. It is being driven by U.S. distributor Super and awards strategist Steven Raphael, who appreciate the central debut performance \u2014 in this case the young lead, Catherine Clinch, and a hope that voters will thrill to the cadences of the musical Irish language. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people have spoken about \u2018The Quiet Girl\u2019 as being a kind of antidote to the frenzied nature of many films today \u2014 and indeed to the frenzied pace of modern living. It gently embraces its audience and carefully unspools its story in a way that is deeply respectful of its characters and their emotional lives,\u201d Bair\u00e9ad says. \u201cWe strove to make an honest and truthful film and audiences seem to have taken these characters into their hearts. We hope that Academy voters will do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, Morocco has made the shortlist once before, for 2011\u2019s \u201cOmar Killed Me.\u201d Maryam Touzani\u2019s \u201cThe Blue Caftan\u201d made an award-winning debut in May at Cannes and has been on an accolade-laden journey since. The film follows a middle-aged tailor and his ill wife who find their relationship challenged by the arrival of a handsome new apprentice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a film that talks about a subject that in Morocco that is very complicated to talk about, it\u2019s very hard. So the fact that it\u2019s representing Morocco, for me, symbolically means a lot in what I wanted to also defend through this film, because for me, above all, this is a film that talks about love, about all the phases of love, about the love of a craft, also, but also the love between beings and a love that is free to express itself in all its forms,\u201d Touzani told Variety. <\/p>\n
Like most of the more fancied contenders in the international feature category, \u201cThe Blue Caftan\u201d has also displayed tremendous festival legs, picking up awards on its journey. One of the campaign\u2019s highlights is shining a light on suppressed voices, another voter magnet. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s going to really help also in bringing about a debate that I believe is essential \u2014 a debate about freedom, about the freedom of being who you want to be loving, who you want to love,\u201d Touzani says. \u201cThese were characters that evolved in a society where they were not allowed to have a voice. And I wanted through the film, to be able to give these characters a voice to make them exist, to make their stories matter, because I think these are stories that need to be told. And it\u2019s not always easy to tell some stories, especially in certain contexts. Culturally, it\u2019s not necessarily easy to tell such a story in the social context, like the one I live in. But for me, it\u2019s absolutely essential. My heart was, was beating at the same time as these characters. And I really felt that I needed to tell their story.\u201d <\/p>\n
From a spotty record of entering the Oscars and never having cracked the shortlist let alone gaining a nomination, Pakistan\u2019s entry, Saim Sadiq\u2019s \u201cJoyland\u201d has been sparking buzz in this category. This film also highlights the voices of the marginalized and made an award-winning debut at Cannes. The youngest son in a traditional Pakistani family takes a job as a backup dancer in a burlesque and becomes infatuated with the trans lead of the show. The film found a powerful ally in Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai who signed on as an executive producer. In recent weeks it has gained visibility for being banned in Pakistan, Yousafzai making an impassioned plea for the film in Variety and for the ban being subsequently reversed. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe themes that are touched upon in this movie resonate with people all around the world. We hear about family dynamics, we hear about the relationship between parents and children, between husband and wife, between the work that you are expected to do inside your house compared to the role you want to play outside in society. And these are the things that that we hear about in every corner of the world,\u201d Yousafzai says. \u201cThere are disappointments from parents, there are disappointments in relationships as well. And these are the themes that this movie has touched upon so beautifully. We also hear about identity and how people are trying to understand their own identity and then find a place for it in their home and outside as well, finding that dignity and respect that they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is something to be said about how we\u2019ve been talking on issues about identity and sexuality and gender, and the politics regarding trans issues, which we\u2019ve only seen with the Western frame of reference so far in movies and film. That may not be the same as what is a South Asian frame of reference, because, even though the issues are pretty much the same, the way of dealing with them emotionally and politically, are very different,\u201d Sadiq told Variety. \u201cThis film does introduce a new leaf in terms of the conversation around that, because it\u2019s just refreshing to see a very empowered trans character who happens to be brown and Muslim and in a country like Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further west, another underdog is Israel, which has never won though it has been nominated several times and last made the shortlist in 2017. Helmer Orit Fouks Rotem\u2019s \u201cCinema Sabaya\u201d won the Ophir Awards, automatically making it Israel\u2019s Oscar submission. <\/p>\n
With its documentary feel, the film about Arab and Jewish women taking a moviemaking class during which they learn about each other has traveled the festival circuit. During a Q&A in Los Angeles, Rotem explained that it was inspired by classes she had taught. When she approached the women about making a doc they told her to hire actresses. Kino Lorber is distributing \u201cCinema Sabaya\u201d in the U.S.<\/p>\n
On the other side of the world, Argentina has been a contender even winning the Oscar a few times. This year it is fielding Santiago Mitre\u2019s \u201cArgentina, 1985.\u201d The accent here is on the quest for justice, another emotive topic. The film is a drama inspired by real-life Argentinian lawyers Julio Strassera and Luis Moreno Ocampo, who were presented with an impossible task \u2014 to prosecute members of the former military junta to bring justice to the victims of their deadly regime when they still had enormous power. <\/p>\n
For Academy voters, the film has an instantly recognizable face in Ricardo Dar\u00edn, star of 2010 Oscar winner \u201cThe Secret in Their Eyes.\u201d It made an award-winning debut at Venice. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel \u2018Argentina, 1985\u2019 is a timely and inspirational examination of democratic systems \u2014 how they can succeed, especially with a younger generation that has been galvanized. This event that happened almost 30 years ago in Argentina set legal precedent that informed the international criminal courts moving forward, but we face many of the same challenges to democracy today, in every country. We hope voters will engage with this true story and will find it not only eye-opening, but also entertaining, producer Axel Kuschevatzky told Variety.<\/p>\n
The film has Amazon behind it as a distributor and besides the physical screenings, it\u2019s available on Prime Video worldwide. \u201cThe fact that the real Luis Moreno Ocampo, one of the real-life prosecutors that inspired the film, is giving lectures about the true story behind the movie has been a highlight of this journey,\u201d Kuschevatzky says. <\/p>\n
View this article at Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Buzzy Newcomers Punch Up in Oscar International Film Race: In what has been the widest open Oscars\u2019 international feature category race in years, countries that previously had not been dominant in the category have emerged as strong contenders. For instance, Cambodia sent in Davy Chou\u2019s \u201cReturn to Seoul,\u201d which debuted at Cannes. The country has
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