ROJEK by @ZayneAkyol is Canada’s Choice in the race for Best International Feature Film at the #Oscars2024! Congratulations to the team! We are beyond excited to follow you on this journey and wish you the best of luck moving forward. ✨https://t.co/wtt0ULcAgo #Documentary pic.twitter.com/idndMSgUAG
— Telefilm Canada (@Telefilm_Canada) August 24, 2023
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.
| 2024 Academy Awards shortlist for Best International Feature Film | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | Film | ||||||||||||||||
| Armenia | Amerikatsi | ||||||||||||||||
| Bhutan | The Monk and the Gun | ||||||||||||||||
| Denmark | The Promised Land | ||||||||||||||||
| Finland | Fallen Leaves | ||||||||||||||||
| France | The Taste of Things | ||||||||||||||||
| Germany | The Teachers' Lounge | ||||||||||||||||
| Iceland | Godland | ||||||||||||||||
| Italy | Io Capitano | ||||||||||||||||
| Japan | Perfect Days | ||||||||||||||||
| Mexico | Totem | ||||||||||||||||
| Morocco | The Mother of All Lies | ||||||||||||||||
| Spain | Society of the Snow | ||||||||||||||||
| Tunisia | Four Daughters | ||||||||||||||||
| Ukraine | 20 Days in Mariupol | ||||||||||||||||
| United Kingdom | The Zone of Interest | ||||||||||||||||
Your humble narrator has seen a number of films from other countries in the Academy Awards category (thanks in part to the 2023 Windsor International Film Festival). I've seen the entries from Finland (Fallen Leaves), Germany (The Teachers' Lounge), Iceland (Godland), Japan (Perfect Days), and Tunisia (Four Daughters).
Perfect Days comes from the legendary director Wim Wenders.
I've also seen these other films that were official submissions: Canada (Rojek), Estonia (Smoke Sauna Sisterhood), South Korea (Concrete Utopia), Switzerland (Thunder), and Turkey (About Dry Grasses).
I enjoyed Fallen Leaves and Perfect Days a lot. I felt in the middle on The Teachers’ Lounge and Godland, wanting to like them more. We've written a bit about Four Daughters.
Stories We Tell and the documentaries inspired by the Canadian film
We don't know officially but the Estonia (Smoke Sauna Sisterhood) and Turkey (About Dry Grasses) submissions likely didn't miss by much. About Dry Grasses was over 3 hours long and was a good film. Smoke Sauna Sisterhood was well done and a very therapeutic film.
Congratulations to @NishaPahuja! 🎉🤩
— National Film Board of Canada (@thenfb) December 21, 2023
We’re excited to share that TO KILL A TIGER (@tokillatigerdoc) is among the 15 films shortlisted by @TheAcademy for this year’s #Oscars® in the category: Documentary Feature Film→ https://t.co/1NLH4TLmnK #FYC pic.twitter.com/RcwrlB31sq
After a break last year, we have 2 films on the shortlist for Best Documentary Feature and in the running for Best International Feature Film: Four Daughters (Tunisia) and 20 Days in Mariupol (Ukraine).
More than a year after winning Best Canadian Film at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, To Kill a Tiger made the shortlist for Best Documentary Feature. The very much Canadian film in name only has a lot of famous push behind the project (Mindy Kaling and Dev Patel as executive producers) yet getting the film out to people has been a difficult task on both sides of the border for a long time. Canadians finally can access the film via the National Film Board of Canada. Americans, well, we will see.
Eternal Spring and Rojek theoretically would have been eligible in this category.
An American documentary about a Canadian also made the shortlist. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is a documentary film about Michael J. Fox and his struggle with Parkinson's. Unlike To Kill a Tiger, this film is more widely available through Apple TV+.
I wouldn't expect To Kill a Tiger to make the Top 5 cut yet the filmmakers should be proud of being on the shortlist. Let's hope the shortlist will make this film available to watch for those outside Canada.
Oasis from Justine Martin made the shortlist for Documentary Short Subject. The late Robbie Robertson made the shortlist for Original Score for his work on Killers of the Flower Moon. Robertson produced the song Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People) by the Osage Tribal Singers, which made the shortlist for Original Song.
I’m Just Ken, sung by Ryan Gosling from Barbie, is also on the shortlist for Original Song.
Canadian film case study: Rojek
Rojek is Canada's entry into the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film
Rojek didn't provoke any significant Oscars buzz. This is not a surprise given its subject matter and presentation. Eternal Spring had a tiny bit of buzz last year yet had little to no chance. Canada has only had a single entry on the shortlist in the last decade: Juste la fin du monde | It's Only the End of the World from Xavier Dolan made the shortlist in the movie year 2016.
The strategy of picking documentaries about controversial topics that are not visibly Canadian is not working. Sorry, Telefilm Canada.
The Hollywood Reporter had a good interview about Rojek with its director, Zaynê Akyol.
Canada has rarely had an Indigenous film in this category: the lone exceptions were Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001) and The Necessities of Life | Ce qu'il faut pour vivre, Inuujjutiksaq (2008). Both films were in Inuktitut along with French in the latter film. This would seemingly be a better qualifier for Canada. Tautuktavuk | What We See (Carol Kunnuk and Lucy Tulugarjuk) wouldn't have likely made the shortlist yet would have been worthy of discussion.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant from Ariane Louis-Seize would have been an unusual choice yet a highly thoughtful film. Dark comedies, much less comedies, rarely show up at the Oscars.
Immigrants coming into Canada are an excellent topic, such as current films Kanaval (Henri Pardo) and Ru Charles-Olivier Michaud).
The Independent Spirit Awards announced its 5 nominees for Best International Film. They have more leeway since they aren't limited to the film each country submits to the Academy Awards.
Anatomy of a Fall (France)
Godland (Denmark, Iceland)
Mami Wata (Nigeria)
Totem (Mexico)
The Zone of Interest (UK, Poland, USA)
We've seen Godland and was not as impressed as I wanted to be. Totem played at WIFF and we didn't have time to fit in the film. I figured someone would mention the film and no one mentioned it within range of my ears.
Four Daughters is one of the nominees for Best Documentary Feature Film along with Bye Bye Tiberias, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, Kokomo City, and The Mother of All Lies.
American actor Glenn Howerton got nominated for Best Supporting Performance for the Canadian film BlackBerry. Howerton did a good job as the lead IMHO but perhaps supporting was the only way in for the nominee.
While Celine Song is a South Korean-Canadian person, Past Lives is an American film.
The 2024 Golden Globes are on January 7 on CBS. Here are their nominees for Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language
Anatomy of a Fall (France)
Fallen Leaves (Finland)
Io Capitano (Italy)
Past Lives (United States)
Society of the Snow (Spain)
The Zone of Interest (UK)
We adored Fallen Leaves, the only one we've seen on this list. Ryan Gosling got a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for some relatively unknown film called Barbie.
Alma Pöysti from Fallen Leaves got a nomination in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy category. Pöysti has some well-known competition in that category, including Jennifer Lawrence, Natalie Portman, Margot Robbie, and Emma Stone.
The Critics Choice Awards airs January 14 on the CW network in the United States. Here are their nominees for Best Foreign Language Film:
Anatomy of a Fall (France)
Godzilla Minus One (Japan)
Perfect Days (Japan)
Society of the Snow (Spain)
The Taste of Things (France)
The Zone of Interest (UK)
The Taste of Things played at some festivals as Pot-au-Feu, which is a better title if you know the French dish.
Gosling also got a supporting actor nomination for Barbie. The late Robbie Robertson received a nomination for Best Score for Killers of the Flower Moon. Robertson had a lot of experience scoring music for films.
Celine Song got a Best Original Screenplay nomination for Past Lives. The not Canadian film also has nominations for best picture and best actress (Greta Lee).
The Toronto Film Critics Association weighed in on Best International Feature with Fallen Leaves as the winner. Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest were runners-up.
Green Border was shut out of the Oscars consideration since Poland didn't want to submit the film to the Academy Awards. These other entities aren't restricted to add the film yet none of them listed the film. Hard to watch yet such a wonderful film.
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
Your humble narrator has seen the last 27 Canadian entries in the Best International Feature Film category. The most recent one I haven't seen is Not Me! | Sous-Sol from the Oscars in 1997.
The Oscars shortlist of 15 films will be reduced to the list of 5 official nominees on January 23, 2024. The 96th Academy Awards will be held on March 10, 2024.
Twitter captures: @Telefilm_Canada; @thenfb
video credit: Icarus Films
photo credit: Rojek
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