The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its 15-film shortlist for Best International Feature Film. Let's take a look at the titles.
| 2022 Academy Awards shortlist for Best International Feature Film | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Film | ||||||||||||||||
| Austria | Great Freedom | ||||||||||||||||
| Belgium | Playground | ||||||||||||||||
| Bhutan | Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom | ||||||||||||||||
| Denmark | Flee | ||||||||||||||||
| Finland | Compartment No. 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| Germany | I'm Your Man | ||||||||||||||||
| Iceland | Lamb | ||||||||||||||||
| Iran | A Hero | ||||||||||||||||
| Italy | The Hand of God | ||||||||||||||||
| Japan | Drive My Car | ||||||||||||||||
| Kosovo | Hive | ||||||||||||||||
| Mexico | Prayers for the Stolen | ||||||||||||||||
| Norway | The Worst Person in the World | ||||||||||||||||
| Panama | Plaza Catedral | ||||||||||||||||
| Spain | The Good Boss | ||||||||||||||||
Based on experts and feedback, the solid core would be Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Iran, Italy, Japan, Mexico, and Norway.
This is an amazing story. Before the Oscars in 2020, no film had ever been nominated in this category as well as Best Documentary Feature. Flee could be the 3rd film in the last 3 years to pull off this feat. The Danish film made the shortlist in both categories. Honeyland (North Macedonia) and Collective (Romania) made both finals lists in the last couple of Oscars seasons.
Your humble narrator has only seen the film from Norway on that list, which was a very good film.
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Les Oiseaux Ivres is Canada's selection to the Oscars for Best International Feature Film
Les Oiseaux Ivres | Drunken Birds did not make the list. I did see the film as an honourable mention from at least one outlet. 15 films make the list and another 10-15 get mentioned in contention.
Some of the films that appeared to come close to making the shortlist were Argentina (The Intruder); Chad (Lingui, or the Sacred Bonds); Colombia (Memoria); France (Titane); Romania (Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn); and Russia (Unclenching the Fists).
This year, the lack of recognition wasn't as much about the Canadian entry but the superiority of the nominated films. Les Oiseaux Ivres | Drunken Birds has to be better than Funny Boy or 14 Jours, 12 Nuits. Let's just be thankful Telefilm Canada only nominated a single film for the 94th Academy Awards.
Les Oiseaux Ivres | Drunken Birds will be in the lineup at the 2022 Palm Springs Film Festival.
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The 3-year streak of Canadian films that made the top 5 cut (with the film year) feels like a long ago dream:
- Incendies (Denis Villeneuve) 2010
- Monsieur Lazhar (Philippe Falardeau) 2011
- Rebelle | War Witch (Kim Nguyen) 2012
The last Canadian film to make the shortlist was Juste la fin du monde | It's Only the End of the World from Xavier Dolan. That was 5 years ago.
The only Canadian film to win in this category: The Barbarian Invasions | Les Invasions barbares from Denys Arcand.
Looking back at Canada's Oscars entries for international films
As we noted yesterday, your humble narrator has seen every Canadian film contender (not including this year's entry) since 1997 (film year) with 2 exceptions:
- Emporte-moi | Set Me Free Léa Pool (1999)
- Un crabe dans la tête André Turpin (2002)
There is an impressive list of Oscar contenders that your humble narrator has loved.
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The 2022 Independent Spirit Awards released its Best International Film nominated films:
Compartment No. 6 (Finland)
Drive My Car (Japan)
Parallel Mothers (Spain)
Pebbles (India)
Petite Maman (France)
Prayers for the Stolen (Mexico)
Hopefully, they will be back inside the tent on the beach in Santa Monica, CA.
The Golden Globes were lame and odd. Then they became somewhat legitimate. Then someone figured out the Hollywood Foreign Press Association didn't have any Black members (sadly, not a shock).
The 2022 Golden Globes will not air on NBC. We are listing the Best Motion Picture — Foreign Language nominees for perspective compared to the Academy Awards.
Compartment No. 6 (Finland)
Drive My Car (Japan)
The Hand of God (Italy)
A Hero (Iran)
Parallel Mothers (Spain)
The Critics Choice Awards will also be on January 9 but these awards have a U.S. TV home (CW and TBS). These are their nominees for Best foreign language film:
A Hero (Iran)
Drive My Car (Japan)
Flee (Denmark)
The Hand of God (Italy)
The Worst Person in the World (Norway)
Your humble narrator loved The Worst Person in the World. The title isn't very helpful; a more delightful film than the title infers.
The films in both lists are the country's nominated films for the Oscars for Best International Feature Film, except for Parallel Mothers from the legendary Pedro Almodóvar and Petite Maman.
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We will know the final 5 nominees on February 8, same time as the rest of the nominations. The 94th Academy Awards will take place on March 27.
Twitter capture: @Telefilm_Canada
photos credit: Les Oiseaux Ivres | Drunken Birds film
video credit: YouTube/Les Films Opale
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