24 Foreign Language Oscar Contenders Already Lined Up as Festival Standout 'Le Havre' Finds Distribution
The field is beginning to take shape
I haven't talked much if at all about this year's foreign language Oscar race, primarily because I have only seen one of the 24 films submitted so far and that is Russia's entry, Burnt by the Sun 2: Citadel, which I saw at Cannes last year and didn't particularly enjoy.
There are several I've heard of including Wim Wenders' 3D documentary Pina, Bela Tarr's The Turin Horse, Where Do We Go Now? which just won the Toronto Film Festival Audience Award, Asghar Farhadi's Nader and Simin, A Separation which people seem to either love or hate, Agnieszka Holland's Polish-set WW II feature In Darkness and Aki Kaurismaki's Le Havre, which was just picked up for distribution by Janus Films and will hit Los Angeles theaters on October 21.
Le Havre was a big hit at Cannes earlier this year where I also missed it and had too much work not gotten in the way I would have seen it in Toronto this year, but I guess my time will come soon enough. On top of the distribution news for Le Havre I also have the English language trailer debut, which I've included at the bottom of this post, just after my list of the first 24 Foreign Language submissions.
I keep track of these all throughout the year in the Foreign Language section of my "Contenders" pages so be sure to check there once a week and you should notice the list growing more and more in the coming days as the deadline for all countries to send in their submissions is October 1.
Here is the list as of right now:
Afghanistan to France
- Austria, Breathing (dir. Karl Markovics)
- Belgium, Bullhead (dir. Michael R. Roskam)
- Finland, Le Havre (dir. Aki Kaurismaki)
- France, Declaration of War (dir. Valerie Donzelli)
Georgia to Morocco
- Germany, Pina (dir. Wim Wenders)
- Greece, Attenberg (dir. Athena Rachel Tsagkari)
- Hungary, The Turin Horse (dir. Bela Tarr)
- Iran, Nader and Simin, A Separation (dir. Asghar Farhadi)
- Japan, Postcard (dir. Kaneto Shind?)
- Lebanon, Where Do We Go Now? (dir. Nadine Labaki)
- Lithuania, Back to Your Arms (dir. Kristijonas Vildziunas)
- Morocco, Omar Killed Me (dir. Roschdy Zem)
Netherlands to Venezuela
- Netherlands, Sonny Boy (dir. Maria Peters)
- Norway, Happy, Happy (dir. Anne Sewitsky)
- Philippines, The Woman in the Septic Tank (dir. Marlon Rivera)
- Poland, In Darkness (dir. Agnieszka Holland)
- Portugal, Jose and Pilar (dir. Miguel Goncalves Mendes)
- Romania, Morgen (dir. Marian Crisan)
- Russia, Burnt by the Sun 2: Citadel (dir. Nikita Mikhalkov)
- Serbia, Montevideo, God Bless You! (dir. Dragan Bjelogrlic)
- South Korea, The Front Line (dir. Jang Hun)
- Sweden, Beyond (dir. Pernilla August)
- Taiwan, Seediq Bale (dir. Wei Te-Sheng)
- Venezuela, The Rumble of the Stones (dir. Alejandro Bellame)
And here is the trailer for Le Havre:
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"José and Pilar" is such a good movie. It's a documentay but his structure looks like fiction and the message of love that is brought to us is universal and moving. It's a big movie, lovely and a major surprise! The movie is co-produced by portuguese Jumpcut, O2 (Fernando Meirelles) and El Deseo (Pedro Almodóvar)!
Brad, i think you saw the first part of the Burnt by the Sun sequel dilogy which actually consists of two movies. so russian entry is the second one called CITADEL, not the one showed at Cannes last year called EXODUS..Citadel is better than Exodus but still a piece of crap.. got 1,5 million $ at the russian box-office with 34@budget. we laugh here at russia because mikhalkov being a head of the russian oscar comitee chosed his film instead of ELENA (very good) and FAUST (could't see it at Venice because had tickets for the 7 sept (( but anyway it won there, so it possibly could be something like White Ribbon was last year) which do have some chances in oscar race. it happens every year – last year we've suddenly chosen The Edge instead of truly masterpiece "How I Spent Last Summer"..
Ah ha, you are exactly right. I was wondering why they would change the name. Thanks for clearing that up.
Good choice for Philippines- I hope THE WOMAN IN SEPTIC TANK would be noticed. A first for the country- fingers crossed! :-)
Bullhead (or Rundskop) is such a great movie. A dark and unsettling crime-drama with some scenes that you'll never forget. Really hope it wins!
The Woman In The Septic Tank is a must see!!! Don't know how it will fare with subs though…
Pina is another masterpiece that deserves a place in the top five, but it has one big problem. it's not so cool if watching it at home without 3D. Because it losts it's magic.
Attenberg from Greece is even more weird and experimental than Dogtooth, so i don't think academy is so risky to choose it.
Canada's choice has been announced: "Monsieur Lazhar":
http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/en/news/releases/2011/09/21/telefilm-canada-announces-philippe-falardeau-s-monsieur-lazhar-canada-s-sel
I really hope Le Havre gets shortlisted. Aki Kaurismäki is one of Finland's top directors of all time and he's done outstanding work over the years. However he's also kind of an eccentric with very strong opinions, a real man of principle. That's the reason he didn't allow any of his films to be participating in the Oscar race for as long as Bush was the president. Now that things have changed we're hoping for the best.
"Declaration of War" It's a heart wrenching French film about a young couple coping with their toddler's cancer diagnosis. Based on their own true story, director Valerie Donzelli and writer Jeremie Elkaim also star in this poignant, inspiring drama.