2019 Foreign Language Film Oscar Submissions Algeria – Until The End Of Time – Yasmine Chouikh Argentina– The Angel (El Angel) – Luis Ortega Austria – The Waldheim Waltz – Ruth Beckermann Belarus – Crystal Swan – Darya Zhuk Belgium – Girl – Lukas Dhont Bolivia – Muralla – Rodrigo Patiño Bosnia – Never Leave Me – Aida Begic Brazil – The Great Mystical Circus – Carlos Diegues Bulgaria – Omnipresent – Ilian Djevelekov Cambodia – Graves Without A Name – Rithy Pan Canada – Watch Dog – Sophie Dupuis Chile – And Suddenly The Dawn – Silvio Caiozzi Colombia– Birds of Passage, Cristina Gallego & Ciro Guerra Croatia – The Eighth Commissioner – Ivan Salaj Czech Republic – Winter Flies – Olmo Omerzu Denmark – The Guilty – Gustav Möller Dominican Republic – Cocote – Nelson Carlo de los Santos Ecuador – A Son Of Man – Jamaicanoproblem and Pablo Agüero Egypt – Yomeddine – Abu Bakr Shawky Estonia – Take It Or Leave It – Liina Trishkina-Vanhatalo Finland – Euthanizer – Teemu Nikin France – Memoir Of War – Emmanuel Finkiel Georgia – Namme – Zaza Khalvashi Germany – Never Look Away – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck...
- 8/21/2020
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
The country has seen widespread protests at its election results.
22 European film bodies have issued an appeal in support of the people of Belarus. The country has seen a week of protests following its 2020 presidential elections, leading to state violence against demonstrators.
Organisations including the European Film Academy, the European Producers Club, the Accademia del Cinema Italiano, and the Federation of European Film Directors have co-signed the letter. A full list of signatories is below.
It states: “We, European filmmakers, demand from the Belarusian authorities to immediately cease the violence, to respect the freedom of choice of the Belarusian people,...
22 European film bodies have issued an appeal in support of the people of Belarus. The country has seen a week of protests following its 2020 presidential elections, leading to state violence against demonstrators.
Organisations including the European Film Academy, the European Producers Club, the Accademia del Cinema Italiano, and the Federation of European Film Directors have co-signed the letter. A full list of signatories is below.
It states: “We, European filmmakers, demand from the Belarusian authorities to immediately cease the violence, to respect the freedom of choice of the Belarusian people,...
- 8/19/2020
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
In the weeks following the inaugural edition of the Key Buyers Event, a showcase for new Russian productions held in Moscow last fall, Roskino CEO Evgenia Markova reached out to scores of international guests who had made the trip to the Russian capital. After what was largely perceived as a successful event, in which dozens of Russian titles sold to foreign buyers, Markova wanted to understand what else the film promotion body could do to support the continued growth of the Russian industry.
One piece of advice stood out. “Not many Russian names are known abroad,” says Markova. The consensus among many of the buyers in attendance was that “this is definitely what [Roskino] should work on: you should promote your actors, your producers, your directors. You should show the world you exist.”
For the Key Buyers Event: Digital Edition, an online platform to showcase and promote Russian content that takes...
One piece of advice stood out. “Not many Russian names are known abroad,” says Markova. The consensus among many of the buyers in attendance was that “this is definitely what [Roskino] should work on: you should promote your actors, your producers, your directors. You should show the world you exist.”
For the Key Buyers Event: Digital Edition, an online platform to showcase and promote Russian content that takes...
- 6/10/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Newshbo Max has announced plans to release the "Snyder Cut," a highly demanded director's cut of Zack Snyder's Justice League. Hollywood Reporter delves into the development of the project and the fan-based movement behind bringing Snyder's vision to life. Venice's governor has announced that the film festival will proceed as planned this September. Meanwhile, Cannes is unveiling plans for its unprecedented "virtual film market," which will have to mediate different time zones and a lack of premiere buzz. Recommended VIEWINGDavid Lynch has released his 2015 short film Fire (Pozar) for free online. The animated film, a collaboration with Polish musician Marek Zebrowski, is a nightmarish vision of formless beings and houses on fire. For Deadline's new series The Film That Lit My Fuse, Francis Ford Coppola discusses Sergei Eisenstein's October (Ten Days That Shook...
- 5/27/2020
- MUBI
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Darya Zhuk's Crystal Swan is receiving its exclusive digital premiere on Mubi, and is showing May 23 - June 22, 2020 in most countries.Minsk, 1996: statues of Lenin have been dislocated from their urban placement to heritage museums, as well as, most surprisingly, nightclubs. Early on, Darya Zhuk’s Crystal Swan plunges its audience into an underground setting, where neon lights drench the Soviet leader’s sculpted features while youngsters sway in a trance-like state. Iconically, the early house music anthem “Move Your Body” by Marshall Jefferson flags the prodigal freedom of a whole post-1989 generation. The film itself offers a singular coming-of-age story, where a law-graduate-turned-dj Velya’s (Alina Nasbullina) abstract dream of fleeing to the U.S. is hindered by bureaucratic complications. When unexpected circumstances lead Velya to a countryside town, she comes face to face with societal pressures,...
- 5/27/2020
- MUBI
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is known by many as a Cannes catch up fest and for its star-filled tributes, but there is a fantastic competition that takes place with films such as “Zoology” and last year’s winner, “I Do Not Care If We Go Down In History As Barbarians” recently making their debuts. It also ends up as the defacto premiere for a number of nation’s International Film Oscar submissions.
Continue reading New Films Starring Henry Golding & John Turturro Set For Karlovy Vary 2019 at The Playlist.
Continue reading New Films Starring Henry Golding & John Turturro Set For Karlovy Vary 2019 at The Playlist.
- 5/28/2019
- by Gregory Ellwood
- The Playlist
A version of this story on “Crystal Swan” first appeared in the Foreign Language Issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine.
First-time director Darya Zhuk’s drama “Crystal Swan,” one of the sleepers in this year’s Oscar foreign-language race, is set in the early 1990s and stars Alina Nasibullina as a young DJ desperate to get a visa and head to the United States. While it is not autobiographical, Zhuk did find herself waiting in many long lines when she secured student visas to study in the U.S.
The film is only the third Oscar submission ever from Belarus, and the first in 22 years. This interview is one in a series of conversations with directors of this year’s foreign Oscar contenders.
Also Read: Belarus to Enter Oscar Race After 22 Years With Indie Gem 'Crystal Swan'
The lead character in this film is a combination of your experiences and…...
First-time director Darya Zhuk’s drama “Crystal Swan,” one of the sleepers in this year’s Oscar foreign-language race, is set in the early 1990s and stars Alina Nasibullina as a young DJ desperate to get a visa and head to the United States. While it is not autobiographical, Zhuk did find herself waiting in many long lines when she secured student visas to study in the U.S.
The film is only the third Oscar submission ever from Belarus, and the first in 22 years. This interview is one in a series of conversations with directors of this year’s foreign Oscar contenders.
Also Read: Belarus to Enter Oscar Race After 22 Years With Indie Gem 'Crystal Swan'
The lead character in this film is a combination of your experiences and…...
- 11/18/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The Oscars race for Best Foreign Language Film has kicked off with one past winner, another past nominee, a couple of esteemed international auteurs, a Palme d’Or winner and movies about drug runners, a transgender teen and, um, hot and sweaty troll sex.
Those are all in the first dozen-plus films submitted to the Academy by international film boards that have qualified to enter movies in the Oscars race. The first batch of submitted films range from this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Shoplifters,” to Lukas Dhont’s understated transgender character study “Girl” to Ali Abbasi’s “Border,” which energized Cannes audiences with its twisted tale of a woman who realizes she’s actually a troll.
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the director of the German entry, “Never Look Away,” directed the Oscar-winning “The Lives of Others” more than a decade ago, while Colombian...
Those are all in the first dozen-plus films submitted to the Academy by international film boards that have qualified to enter movies in the Oscars race. The first batch of submitted films range from this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Shoplifters,” to Lukas Dhont’s understated transgender character study “Girl” to Ali Abbasi’s “Border,” which energized Cannes audiences with its twisted tale of a woman who realizes she’s actually a troll.
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the director of the German entry, “Never Look Away,” directed the Oscar-winning “The Lives of Others” more than a decade ago, while Colombian...
- 8/30/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Estonia has selected drama “Take It or Leave It” as its submission for the Oscar for best foreign-language film – the third time in five years that the country has put forward a movie from producer Ivo Felt, whose 2014 “Tangerines” received Estonia’s only Academy Award nomination.
“Take It or Leave It” beat six other contenders under consideration by a selection committee led by Edith Sepp, CEO of the Estonian Film Institute, which announced the selection Thursday. Five members of the seven-person panel picked “Take It or Leave It” as their choice for submission to the Academy.
Director Liina Triškina-Vanhatalo’s film tackles themes of responsibility, single parenthood and economic inequality. It tells the story of a 30-year-old construction worker who suddenly finds himself a single parent when his ex-girlfriend, whom he hasn’t seen for six months, has a baby girl and informs him that she’ll put the child...
“Take It or Leave It” beat six other contenders under consideration by a selection committee led by Edith Sepp, CEO of the Estonian Film Institute, which announced the selection Thursday. Five members of the seven-person panel picked “Take It or Leave It” as their choice for submission to the Academy.
Director Liina Triškina-Vanhatalo’s film tackles themes of responsibility, single parenthood and economic inequality. It tells the story of a 30-year-old construction worker who suddenly finds himself a single parent when his ex-girlfriend, whom he hasn’t seen for six months, has a baby girl and informs him that she’ll put the child...
- 8/16/2018
- by Robert Mitchell
- Variety Film + TV
It’s strange that so many of the movies about “The American Dream” actually take place in America, especially when a Kafka-esque comedy like Darya Zhuk’s “Crystal Swan” — Belarus’ first Oscar submission in 22 years — is so effective at capturing the hopefulness of someone who’s seized by the promise of a better life, and the desperation she feels when that promise starts to slip through her fingers.
Velya, a self-possessed and pixie-like young DJ living in the cold Stalinist mausoleum of Minsk circa 1996, has always felt like a fish out of water. Played with sublime prickliness by Alina Nassibulina, she’s a true individual in a collective society, like a gnarled weed sprouting through a crack in the concrete of the Eastern bloc. While most of the people she knows in post-Soviet Belarus are struggling to reconcile the dark pall of the past with the strong pull of the future,...
Velya, a self-possessed and pixie-like young DJ living in the cold Stalinist mausoleum of Minsk circa 1996, has always felt like a fish out of water. Played with sublime prickliness by Alina Nassibulina, she’s a true individual in a collective society, like a gnarled weed sprouting through a crack in the concrete of the Eastern bloc. While most of the people she knows in post-Soviet Belarus are struggling to reconcile the dark pall of the past with the strong pull of the future,...
- 7/9/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Belarus became the first European country to announce it 2019 Oscars submission Saturday when it named Darya Zhuk's debut feature Crystal Swan as its selection for the best foreign language film category.
The announcement — made onstage before the film's world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic — marks the first time in 22 years that the authoritarian former Soviet Republic has sent a film to the Academy Awards. The last was Dmitri Astrakhan's Yiddish, Russian and German-language Holocaust drama From Hell to Hell in 1996.
Crystal Swan, which opened the festival's Eastern ...
The announcement — made onstage before the film's world premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic — marks the first time in 22 years that the authoritarian former Soviet Republic has sent a film to the Academy Awards. The last was Dmitri Astrakhan's Yiddish, Russian and German-language Holocaust drama From Hell to Hell in 1996.
Crystal Swan, which opened the festival's Eastern ...
- 6/30/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
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