Tuesday, February 9, 2021

THREE LATIN-AMERICAN FILMS AMONG THE FIFTEEN ACADEMY SHORTLISTED INTERNATIONAL FEATURES

 By José Alberto Hermosillo

IN THE INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM CATEGORY Chile, Guatemala, and Mexico, among the fifteen extraordinary works in foreign language, passed to the next round of the Academy qualification.

"The Mole Agent," "La Llorona," and "I'm No Longer Here" are the three celebrated films from Latin-America and will be facing off with other twelve strong candidates such as the front-runner "Another Round" from Denmark. The French sublime, evocative, profound, and unforgettable love story "Two of Us." The powerful work from the Ivory Coast, "Night of the Kings." The marvelous teen's action-drama "Better Days" from Hong Kong. And the dark horse Quo Vadis, Aida? from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Chile

"The Mole Agent" or "El agente topo" is nominated for Best Documentary at Spirit Awards and a Goya Award in Spain. The Chilean Oscar submission directed by Maite Alberdi is a heartwarming, inventive documentary. It records a 90-year old undercover who investigates how the golden-ages are treated in a nursing home. The project has an engrossing conclusion that lifts the spirit way up.

"The Mole Agent" could repeat the luck of last year's North Macedonia's entry "Honneyland" and get two Oscar nominations, one for Best Documentary and the other for Best International Feature film. "Collective," the entry from Romania is also a documentary, and it could also land with a double nomination as well.

Guatemala 

La Llorona/The Weeping Woman, directed by Jayro Bustamante (Ixcanul/Volcano), is an elegant and well-constructed film about overcoming powerful dictators in Latin-America, by the people, by the courts, and by the shadows of the spirits. This highly politically motivated genre film has what it takes to be among the five nominated films for its artistic value. It conveys the atrocities of war-crimes by dictators and justice seekers equally.

México

With a heart-stopping ending, the film distributed by Netflix presents the Mexican youth's predicament, to emigrate to the USA and survive, or remain in the country to enroll in the Narco lines of delinquency. This unprocessed reality keeps thundering in the viewers' mind way after seeing this powerful film. 

 

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina, “Quo Vadis, Aida?”
🇨🇱 Chile, “The Mole Agent
🇨🇿 Czech Republic, “Charlatan”
🇩🇰 Denmark, “Another Round”
🇫🇷 France, “Two of Us
🇬🇹 Guatemala, “La Llorona”
🇭🇰 Hong Kong, “Better Days”
🇮🇷 Iran, “Sun Children”
🇨🇮 Ivory Coast, “Night of the Kings”
🇲🇽 Mexico, “I’m No Longer Here”
🇳🇴 Norway, “Hope”
🇷🇴 Romania, “Collective”
🇷🇺 Russia, “Dear Comrades!”
🇹🇼 Taiwan, “A Sun”
🇹🇳 Tunisia, “The Man Who Sold His Skin”


Fifteen are the films advancing to the next round of voting in the International Feature Film category for the 93rd Academy Awards. Films from 93 countries were eligible in the category.

Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must have met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category. 

In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote.

Nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards will be announced on Monday, March 15, 2021.

The 93rd Oscars® will be held on Sunday, April 25, 2021, and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

TWENTY BEST MOVIES OF 2020
THE WORLD'S BEST FILM FESTIVAL POSTERS 2020

IF YOU ARE READING FROM A MOBILE DEVICE, CLICK: view web version FOR OTHER COOL FEATURES SUCH AS TRANSLATE POWERED BY GOOGLE, AN INTERACTIVE FILM FESTIVAL CALENDAR, AND MORE AWESOME ARTICLES.

Festival in LA ©2021

No comments:

Post a Comment