14 Days 12 Nights by Jean-Philippe Duval to represent 🇨🇦 in the race for Best International Feature Film at the #Oscars2021! ➡️https://t.co/JZbJR2KtgD
— Telefilm Canada (@Telefilm_Canada) December 19, 2020
Watch the film by director Jean-Philippe Duval, writer Marie Vien & producer Antonello Cozzolino here: https://t.co/VKV3YAJAEf pic.twitter.com/Ei4QtIGtgk
14 Jours, 12 Nuits | 14 Days, 12 Nights is Canada's nominee for the Best International Feature Film for the 93rd Academy Awards. Telefilm Canada announced this pick fewer than 24 hours after the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences disqualified Funny Boy since nominees must have "a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track."
14 Jours, 12 Nuits might be more Plan B than 1st runner up since Telefilm Canada submitted 2 films for consideration. We knew that Funny Boy might have issues over the wide use of English. The academy's numbers were 63% English for Funny Boy.
The film features Isabelle Brodeur (Anne Dorval) traveling to Vietnam after the accidental death of her Vietnamese-born teenage daughter. Isabelle travels to find her daughter's birth mother (French actor Leanna Chea).
Jean-Philippe Duval directed the script from Marie Vien. Duval directed Wild Run: The Legend | Chasse-Galerie: La Légende (2016) and the Hystérie chapter in 9, le film (2016), both of which I saw at the 2016 Windsor International Film Festival. Vien co-wrote the screenplay for La passion d'Augustine with Léa Pool, who also directed the film. Saw that film at the 2015 Windsor International Film Festival.
We have seen Dorval in Miraculum (2014) and several Xavier Dolan films: Matthias & Maxime (2019); Mommy (2014); Laurence Anyways (2012); Les amours imaginaires (2010); J'ai tué ma mère (2009).
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14 Jours, 12 Nuits did get a Canadian theatre release in early March and is available on demand in Canada. The U.S. viewing has been limited (according to IMDb) to the Palm Springs International Film Festival in the before time of January 2020. The film is in French and shot in Vietnam.
Chea received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the 2020 Canadian Screen Awards, losing out to Nour Belkhiria for Antigone. Dorval received a Best Actress nomination at the 2020 Prix Iris awards. Dorval lost out to the late Andrée Lachapelle for And the Birds Rained Down | Il pleuvait des oiseaux. 14 Jours, 12 Nuits did win Best Cinematography at the 2020 Prix Iris awards.
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We are at a disadvantage with 14 Jours, 12 Nuits since the film didn't play at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, there was no 2020 Windsor International Film Festival, and didn't even make the TIFF Top 10 Canadian films of the year.
That Shelf described the film's chances of being the nominee as low. "14 jours would likely be the most low-key candidate among the realistic contenders to be Canada’s Oscar submission. Although its profile is respectable, it’s awfully small. However, it’s one of few eligible films that available to audiences across Canada."
Like "normal" years, the likelihood of 14 Jours, 12 Nuits crossing borders depends on the success of the shortlist. Canada doesn't usually get a roll-out such as what Funny Boy received. Then again, the chances that Funny Boy would have stayed as the nominee was about 37%.
As we noted 4 hours ago, The Best International Feature Film shortlist will be announced on February 9. The shortlist of 10 films gets narrowed to 5 official nominees on March 15. The 93rd Academy Awards is scheduled for April 25.
Twitter capture: @Telefilm_Canada
video credit: YouTube/LesFilmsSeville
photo credit: 14 Jours, 12 Nuits film
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