Most negative record at the Oscars: Portugal is out of the race for Best International Film – Current Events
“A Metamorfose dos Pássaros”, by Catarina Vasconcelos, does not appear in the list of finalists for an Oscar nomination for Best International Film.
The absence raises a negative record for Portugal to 38: it is the country that most often submitted candidacies to the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences without ever reaching the nominations for the category (or finalists, since they were publicly announced in 2007) .
Rather, he first came to pre-nominations from Kosovo (with “Beehive”), Panama (“Cathedral Plaza”) and Asian Bhutan (“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”).
As expected, the films by directors Asghar Farhadi (Iran), Paolo Sorrentino (Italy) and Fernando León de Aranoa (Spain) are among the 15 candidates for an Oscar nomination for Best International Film.
The Japanese Ryusuke Hamaguchi and the Norwegian Joachim Trier are other filmmakers who stand out among the candidates to reach the five nominations in the category, which started with 93 productions, nominated by as many countries, released by the Academy on the 6th (later, Jordan withdraw a candidacy of “Amira”, accused of insulting Palestinian prisoners).
In addition to Catarina Vasconcelos’ film, for the race known as “Private Desert”, by Aly Muritiba, which has a Portuguese co-production by Fado Filmes, the French film “Titane”, by Julia Ducournau, which this year won the Palme d’Or at the Festival de Cannes, and the Romanian “Bad Luck in Sex or Accidental Porn”, by Radu Jude, Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.
The finalist lists for the 94th edition of the Oscars (as a “restricted list”) from which they will come out as five nominations, which also cover as categories of Best Documentary, short and feature film, Best Animated Short Film, Best Soundtrack and Best Song, in addition to several technical categories such as Best Sound, Best Visual Effects and Best Wardrobe, were announced today by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of the United States.
The animated feature film “Flee – A Fuga”, about an Afghan refugee, directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, from Denmark, is doubly adequate, in the integrated list of candidates for the nominations for Best Documentary Feature Film and Best Film International.
Awaiting its opening date in Portugal, “Flee” is a favorite of the season, arriving in Hollywood with the award for Best Film at the Annecy Animation Film Festival in France and the award for Best Documentary at the Sundance Festival . If, as expected, it is nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film and accumulates as two other nominations, it will enter the history of the Oscars.
Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, who has already won two Oscars for Best Foreign / International Film, with “Uma Separação” in 2012, and “O Vendor” in 2017, is once again approaching the last stage for a possible conquest of a new golden statuette, with his latest film, “A Hero”, which has already won him the Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix, among other awards.
They also remain in the race for the nominations for Best International Film “Drive My Car”, by the Japanese Ryusuke Hamaguchi, premiered in Portugal in October, after having won critical and best screenplay awards in Cannes; Joachim Trier’s romantic comedy “The Worst Person in the World” from Norway; and “A Mão de Deus”, now available on Netflix, with which Paolo Sorrentino evokes his growth in Naples, in a special involving footballer Maradona, and which has already won him the Grand Prix of the Jury at the Venice Film Festival.
The Spanish film “O Bom Patrão”, starring Javier Bardem, directed by Fernando León de Araona, is also staying in the race, as is the Finnish “Compartimento N.º 6”, by Juho Kuosmanen, the Mexican “Reza Pelas Desaparecidas”. by Tatiana Huezo (already on Netflix), and the German “I’m Your Man”, by Maria Schrader and with Maren Eggert and Dan Stevens, are other finalists.
In the documentary area, the list of nomination candidates includes films such as Questlove’s favorite “Summer of Soul (… Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Television)” about the 1969 Harlem music festival, celebration of music from the black community, applied in Portugal within the scope of the most recent edition of the IndieLisboa festival, two productions on the pandemic theme (“In the Same Breath”, “The First Wave”), and “The Velvet Underground” by Todd Haynes, about the New York band.
“The Rescue” about the rescue of a Thailand children’s football team from being trapped in a cave, “Billie Eilish: The World a Little Blurry” by RJ Cutler and “Julia” by Julie Cohen and Betsy West, they are also among the finalists.
Alberto Iglesias, who composed the music that accompanies Pedro Almodovar’s “Mães Paralelas”, is one of the candidates for a possible nomination for Best Sound Band, as is Jonny Greenwood, twice nominated for “O Poder do Cão” and “Spencer”, and Hans Zimmer for “Dune – Dune” and “007: No Time to Die”.
The original songs lining up for an Oscar nomination include, among others, Beyoncé’s “Be Alive”, Billie Eilish’s “No Time To Die”, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Dos Oruguitas”, “Down to Die” Joy”, by Van Morrison, “Sing 2″, by U2″, Kid Cudi” and “Guns Go Bang”, by JAY-Z, “Where I Belong”, by Brian Wilson, and “Don’t Look Up”, of Ariana Grande. As expected, Diane Warren is also looking for the 13th nomination (never won) with “Somehow You Do.”
Nominations for all categories will be announced on February 8th.
The ceremony that culminates the 94th edition of the Hollywood Academy Awards takes place on March 27 in Los Angeles.
The shortlists of candidates for the nominations can be consulted on the Academy’s pages, on social networks Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.