Official Submissions for the 2013 Best Foreign Language Oscar

 

71 countries will be competing for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at next year's ceremony, setting a new record. A number of heavy-hitters will be vying for the award, from festival darlings to crowd-pleasing local hits. Each of the top prize winners at the three major competitive film festivals–Berlin, Cannes, and Venice–will be representing their respective countries. Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's Golden Bear winner Caesar Must Die (Cesare deve morire), which is set in a men's prison where the inmates are preparing a performance of Julius Caesar, was Italy's submission. Michael Haneke's Amour could earn the director his second Academy Award nomination just as it claimed his second Palme d'Or, following The White Ribbon (Das weiße Band) in 2010, though Amour will be representing Haneke's native Austria instead of Germany, which laid claim to his previous film. South Korea chose Kim Ki-duk's Pietà, this year's Golden Lion winner at the Venice Film Festival, as their submission.

 

In addition to Caesar Must Die, five other films from the Berlinale competition back in February made the cut: Christian Petzold's Barbara for Germany, Ursula Meier's Sister (L'enfant d'en haut) for Switzerland, Kim Nguyen's War Witch (Rebelle) for Canada, Nikolaj Arcel's A Royal Affair (En kongelig affære) for Denmark, and Benedek Fliegauf's Just the Wind (Csak a szél) for Hungary. Japan's submission, Yang Yong-hi's Our Homeland, and Uruguay's, Rodrigo Plá's The Delay (La demora), screened as part of the Forum section at the Berlinale, and Morocco's submission, Faouzi Bensaïdi's Death for Sale, played in the Panorama section.

 

Amour will be joined by six other films from this year's Cannes Film Festival: Cristian Mungiu's Beyond the Hills (După dealuri) for Romania, Benjamín Ávila's Clandestine Childhood (Infancia clandestina) for Argentina, Pablo Larraín's No for Chile, Joachim Lafosse's Our Children (À perdre la raison) for Belgium, Michel Franco's After Lucía (Después de Lucía) for Mexico, and Aida Begić's Children of Sarajevo (Djeca) for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

Rounding out the rest of the notable contenders: Oliver Nakache and Eric Toledano's box office hit The Intouchables (Intouchables) for France; Chen Kaige's latest Caught in the Web, which recently played at the Toronto International Film Festival, for China; Cate Shortland's German-language feature Lore for Australia; Johnnie To's Life Without Principle for Hong Kong; Baltasar Kormákur's survival drama The Deep (Djúpið) for Iceland; Rama Burshtein's Fill the Void, which took home the Best Actress prize at Venice, for Israel; Annemarie Jacir's When I Saw You for Palestine; João Canijo's family drama Blood of My Blood (Sangue do Meu Sangue) for Portugal; Pablo Berger's Blancanieves, a 1920s-set silent film likely hoping to attract the attention this year's big winner The Artist received, for Spain; Pen-ek Ratanaruang's thriller Headshot for Thailand; and Lasse Halström's The Hypnotist (Hypnotisören), the director's first Swedish-language film in over twenty years, for Sweden.

 

A full list of the submissions can be found at this link, via Alt Film Guide. It's also worth noting that Iran, who won the previous Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for Asghar Farhadi's A Separation, has officially boycotted the Oscar race. For those in the US, both Life Without Principle and Headshot recently became available on Netflix Instant. As in previous years, the Academy will narrow the list down significantly before announcing the five nominees on January 10th. The 85th Academy Awards will be held on February 24, 2013.

Berlin & Beyond 2012 in San Francisco

For those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area, the 17th annual Berlin & Beyond Film Festival began this evening with an opening night gala of Christian Petzold's Barbara, which took home the Silver Bear for Best Director at this year's Berlinale, in addition to being selected as the official 2012 German submission for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. Presented by the Goethe Institut, the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival showcases the latest in German, Swiss, and Austrian cinema, as well as German-language films from the rest of the world in the case of Aleksandr Sokurov's version of the oft-told and -filmed legend of Faust, which screens Friday, September 28th, at 9pm at the Castro Theatre.

The latest film from director Veit Helmer (Tuvalu, Absurdistan), Baikonur will screen as the festival's centerpiece selection on Saturday, September 29th, at the Castro Theatre, and the festival closes on Thursday, October 4th, with Marten Persiel's East German skater documentary This Ain't California.

Other notable films at this year's festival include Achim von Borries' (Love in Thoughts) WWII drama, 4 Days in May (4 Tage im Mai); Dagmar Schultz's documentary about lesbian poet Audre Lorde, entitled Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992; Maggie Peren's Color of the Ocean (Die Farbe des Ozeans), which played at last year's Toronto International Film Festival and stars Sabine Timoteo and Spanish actor Álex González; David Wnendt's tale of neo-Nazi teen girls, Combat Girls (Kriegerin); Christian Schwochow's backstage drama Cracks in the Shell (Die Unsichtbare), which won the Best Actress prize for Danish actress Stine Fischer Christensen at last year's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival; Anno Saul's The Door (Die Tür), starring another renowned Danish actor, Mads Mikkelsen; Hans-Christian Schmid's Home for the Weekend (Was bleibt), which played in competition to mixed reviews at this year's Berlinale; and Hendrik Handloegten's Summer Window (Fenster zum Sommer), with actors Nina Hoss and Lars Eidinger, who can be seen elsewhere at the festival in Barbara and Home for the Weekend, respectively.

Switzerland and Austria are both represented by three films each this year. The Swiss line-up includes two documentaries, Nicolas Steiner's Battle of the Queens (Kampf der Königinnen), which chronicles the traditional cow fights in the south of Switzerland, and Martin Witz's The Substance: Albert Hofmann's LSD, which traces the discovery of LSD in the early 1940s. The Swiss trio is rounded out with The Foster Boy (Der Verdingbub), a period drama from television-director Markus Imboden, starring Katja Riemann and newcomer Max Hubacher. This year's Austrian selection includes actor Karl Markovics' acclaimed directorial debut Breathing (Atmen), which premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at the Cannes Film Festival last year; Julian Pölsler's The Wall (Die Wand), starring Martina Gedeck and recipient of the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at this year's Berlinale; and Michael Glawogger's documentary about prostitution in Thailand, Bangladesh, and Mexico, Whores' Glory.

In addition to the contemporary films at this year's festival, there will be a tribute to Mario Adorf with four of the actor's films playing over the course of the week: Volker Schlöndorff's The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel), Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Lola, Georg Tressler's Ship of the Dead (Das Totenschiff), and Lola Randl's The Rhino and the Dragonfly (Die Libelle und das Nashorn). Please visit the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival's official site for showtimes and any other information you might need.

Announcing... The 18th Annual Saint Louis International Film Festival

Cinema Saint Louis has officially unveiled the line-up for the 18th annual Saint Louis International Film Festival today. I've known about all this for a while, as I did some assisting this year, but now that everything's set in stone (at least, as much as it can be) I can discuss some of the highlights this year. The four best films we're screening: Lucrecia Martel's The Headless Woman [La mujer sin cabeza], Lisandro Alonso's Liverpool, Claire Denis' 35 Shots of Rum [35 rhums] and Andrew Bujalski's Beeswax. All four will make their local debuts at the festival, which begins 12 November 2009, opening with Lone Scherfig's An Education, with Peter Sarsgaard, who hails from the Saint Louis area, in attendance. Sadly, I was so focused on the features this year I haven't had a chance to see any of the documentaries yet.

Bujalski will be in attendance at the Beeswax screening on 13 November at Webster University. Lee Daniels is coming with Precious (I tried to get Mariah, but y'know, she's busy) on 14 November. Director Kirk Jones will also be present for Everybody's Fine, a remake of Giuseppe Tornatore's Stanno tutti bene with Robert DeNiro, Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale. Jason Reitman is coming with Up in the Air, followed by a Q&A, on 14 November at the Tivoli Theatre. Other appearances include Kevin Willmott with his The Only Good Indian; author Daniel Woodrell for the Director's Cut of Ang Lee's Ride with the Devil; Connie Stevens for Saving Grace B. Jones as well as co-stars Penelope Ann Miller, Rylee Fansler, Evie Louise Thompson and Tricia Leigh Fisher; Faruk Sabanovoc, co-writer and art director of Snow [Snijeg]; David Lowery with his excellent feature debut St. Nick; Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, with The Young Victoria which she co-produced with Martin Scorsese; AJ Schnack with his Convention; Joel Hodgson and the original crew of Mystery Science Theater 3000; Joe Berlinger with his latest film Crude; and Ry Russo-Young, writer/director of You Wont Miss Me, another film that comes highly recommended.

Stewart Copeland's Jennifer, which I discussed twice before, will screen as part of the Documentary Short collection "Individuals." Another friend of mine Mike Steinberg, director of the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, will premiere two documentaries: Old Dog, New Trick and The Pride of St. Louis (co-directed by Thomas Crone). The screenings, on 20 November, will be followed by a concert from the subjects of the docs, local musicians Steve Scorfina and the band Mama's Pride (one of my father's favorites, actually).

Closing on Sunday, 22 November, you have your pick between Agnès Varda's The Beaches of Agnès [Les plages d'Agnès], Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles, Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus or Jean-Marc Vallée's The Young Victoria.

A few other films screening this year that I quite admire: Nancy Kissam's Drool; two films from Christian Petzold, Yella and Jerichow; Lucía Puenzo's XXY; and Noah Buschel's The Missing Person. And a couple I have yet to see: Jia Zhang-ke's 24 City; Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Three Monkeys [Üç maymun]; Ondi Timoner's We Live in Public; and Hans-Christian Schmid's Storm [Sturm]. Check out the full schedule and descriptions (many of which were written by yours truly) at Cinema Saint Louis' website. I'll have more updates closer to the fest itself.

Cinema Guild to Release L.A. Without a Map, Plus Other DVD/Blu-ray Announcements

Cinema Guild has announced Mika Kaurismäki's L.A. Without a Map, their first non-theatrical DVD release since the re-formation of their home video branch after New Yorker's closure, for 10 November. Based on the novel by Richard Rayner, the film, which premiered at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival, boasts a huge cast which includes Vincent Gallo, Julie Delpy, David Tennant, Vinessa Shaw, Saskia Reeves, Jean-Pierre Kalfon, Monte Hellman, Joe Dallesandro, Amanda Plummer, the Leningrad Cowboys, Andre Royo, Jerzy Skolimowski, James LeGros, Robert Davi, Anouk Aimée and Johnny Depp in an uncredited role. Also note that Cinema Guild and Project X's release of Christian Petzold's Ghosts [Gespenster] has been pushed to 3 November.

I went back through the previous DVD release updates to check the status on a couple of films and noticed a few cancellations and a number of date changed. Warner took their Blu-ray release of The Exorcist off their release slate, and Paramount postponed the Centennial Collection of (surprise) The African Queen and Anatole Litvak's Sorry, Wrong Number indefinitely. All of the other date changes, for both DVD and Blu-ray, are listed below the newly announced titles of their respective format.

DVD

- Homicide: Life on the Street, The Complete Series, 1993-2000, A&E, 29 September
- Children of the Corn, 2009, d. Donald P. Borchers, Anchor Bay, 6 October
- The Sunchaser, 1996, d. Michael Cimino, Warner, 13 October, w. Woody Harrelson, Jon Seda, Anne Bancroft
- Orphan, 2009, d. Jaume Collet-Serra, Warner, also on Blu-ray, 27 October
- Enlighten Up!, 2008, d. Kate Churchill, New Video, 10 November
- L.A. Without a Map, 1998, d. Mika Kaurismäki, Cinema Guild, 10 November
- Spread, 2009, d. David Mackenzie, Anchor Bay, also on Blu-ray, 10 November
- Moon, 2009, d. Duncan Jones, Sony Pictures, also on Blu-ray, 17 November
- The Open Road, 2009, d. Michael Meredith, Anchor Bay, also on Blu-ray, 17 November, w. Jeff Bridges, Justin Timberlake, Harry Dean Stanton, Mary Steenburgen, Lyle Lovett
- The Rebirth, 2007, d. Masahiro Kobayashi, Facets, 24 November
- Superstar, 2009, d. Tahmineh Milani, Facets, 24 November

DVD Date Changes

- Valentino: The Last Emperor, Phase 4 Films, 8 September
- Chinatown, Centennial Collection, Paramount, 6 October
- The New Hollywood Box Set, Sony, 20 October
- Night of the Creeps, Sony, 27 October (also on Blu-ray, which wasn't initially announced)
- Rashevski's Tango [Le tango des Rashevski], Menemsha Films, 27 October
- The Sam Fuller Collection, Sony, 27 October
- Ghosts [Gespenster], Project X/Cinema Guild, 3 November

Blu-ray

- Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 1966, d. Chuck Jones, Ben Washam, Warner, 6 October
- Galaxy Quest, 1999, d. Dean Parisot, DreamWorks, 17 November
- The Way of the Gun, 2000, d. Christopher McQuarrie, Lionsgate, 24 November

Blu-ray Date Changes

- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Sony, 6 October
- Wolf, Sony, 6 October
- Easy Rider, Sony, 20 October
- Ichi the Killer, Tokyo Shock, 20 October
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacaction, Ultimate Collectors Edition, Warner, 3 November
- Chasing Amy, Miramax, 17 November
- Clerks, Miramax, 17 November
- Fight Club, 20th Century Fox, 17 November

More Petzold from Project X/Cinema Guild

Project X, through Cinema Guild, announced a 6 October DVD release of Christian Petzold's Ghosts [Gespenster], which stars Aurélien Recoing, Sabine Timoteo and Benno Fürmann. In other DVD news, Magnolia will release Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! on 6 October; Anchor Bay is releasing Not Forgotten, with Paz Vega and Simon Baker, on 6 October; and MYA will have Sergio Garrone's Evil Face [Le amanti del mostro], with Klaus Kinski, on 27 October.

On the Blu-ray front, 20th Century Fox announced Fight Club for 13 October, and Paramount will be releasing South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut! on the same date. All for now. James Hansen revisited the brilliant South Park movie recently, which you can check out over at Out 1 Film Journal.

IFC Films on DVD, Round 2 + Akerman + Petzold - Michael Jackson

Though you might have other things on your mind, I thought I'd post another DVD update. Through their new deal with MPI, IFC Films announced their second round of DVD releases after that Blockbuster/Genius drought. Unfortunately, all of their titles so far have been part of their Festival Direct package and not their theatrical releases (The Last Mistress, The Duchess of Langeais, A Christmas Tale, Hunger, Gomorrah, My Winnipeg, etc). On 15 September, look for Spiros Stathoulopoulos' single-take thriller PVC-1 and Baltasar Kormákur's White Night Wedding [Brúðguminn], which stars the Icelandic director's frequent actor Hilmir Snær Guðnason. On 29 September, Madonna's wretched directorial debut Filth and Wisdom and the Spanish thriller Fermat's Room [La habitación de Fermat] will be released.

Icarus Films has set a release date for Chantal Akerman's acclaimed, little seen From the East [D'Est] for 6 October, as well as David Barison and Daniel Ross' documentary The Ister for 3 November. Kino will release a double-feature of sci-fi/horror films from director Graham Reznick, I Can See You and The Viewer, on 28 September.

Cinema Guild will follow Project X's July release of Christian Petzold's The State I Am In [Die Innere Sicherheit] with his latest Jerichow on 27 August. And finally, it appears as if the elusive Phantasm II will make its way onto DVD on 15 September (though I can't back this up) from Universal. I know you've been waiting.

Claire Denis + Cinema Guild; Repulsion + Criterion

Via IndieWire, Claire Denis' 35 Shots of Rum [35 rhums] has found a US distributor in Cinema Guild, who just started their own DVD label after New Yorker Films closed up shop. In other Cinema Guild news, they have teamed up with Project X, who previously brought us a bunch of amazing Peter Watkins films. Their first release together will be Christian Petzold's The State I Am In [Die Innere Sicherheit] in July, followed by Watkins' 14-hour doc The Journey [Resan] sometime later this year.

Criterion announced their July titles this afternoon. Roman Polanski's Repulsion, previously only available in a wretched bargain bin disc, will be out on both DVD and Blu-ray on 28 July. Masaki Kobayashi's The Human Condition is set for the 14th, as well as a Blu-ray of For All Mankind. And Godard's Made in U.S.A. is the other release, though Eric pointed out that spine number 482 has yet to be announced. He suspects it may be Godard's 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her [2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle] (though Polanski's Cul-de-sac is another possibility). I suspect it may be Revolutionary Road (if Criterion's release of Benjamin Button is any indication). Let's hope he's right.

S'more DVD Updates

Kino announced two more titles. Amos Gitai's One Day You'll Understand [Plus tard tu comprendras], starring Jeanne Moreau, Hippolyte Girardot and Emmanuelle Devos, will be out on the 2nd, and Erwin Wagenhofer's We Feed the World for 19 May. And Universal... I don't like what you're up to. First, We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story and now Pufnstuf, set for 19 May!? I see where you're priorities lie. The Weinstein Company announced that long-on-the-shelf Killshot, which stars Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Thomas Jane and Rosario Dawson, for a 26 May DVD release (after a brief theatrical run earlier this year). Gee, the director of Shakespeare in Love has come so far! And finally, Axiom Pictures in the UK have set a new date for Jean-Claude Brisseau's À l'aventure for 25 May. À l'aventure will be released by IFC later this year.

And here are the Ryko titles for June: Robert Hartford-Davis' Black Torment (aka Estate of Insanity) from Redemption, Lucio Fulci's Door Into Silence [Le porte del silenzio] from Severin, three films from Giuseppe Andrews (In Our Garden, The Date Movie, Air Conditioning) from Troma, Joe D'Amato's Horrible [Rosso sangue] from MYA, Sergio Martino's The Island of the Fishmen [L'isola degli uomini pesce] from MYA, Stephen C. Apostolof's Lady Godiva Rides from S'more, Akio Jissoji's Marquis de Sade's Properties of Vice from Mondo Macabre, Mario Imperoli's Monika [La ragazzina] from MYA, Norman J. Warren's Prey (aka Alien Prey) from Redemption, Umberto Lenzi's So Sweet... So Perverse [Così dolce... così perversa] from Midnight Choir, Elliott Hung's They Call Me Bruce? from Liberation, Bong Joon-ho, Leos Carax and Michel Gondry's Tokyo! from Liberation, Alfredo Sternheim's Violence and Flesh [Violência na Carne] from Impulse. All street on 30 June.

Via IndieWire, The Cinema Guild will start their own DVD label, after New Yorker Films (who had released most of their titles recently) closed up shop. So, it looks like both Christian Petzold's Yella and Alexandr Sokurov's Alexandra have not been cancelled. Yella streets on 31 March, Alexandra on 28 April.

If you're not in the mood for a Jewish cross-dressing musical...

I'm sure you're probably still reeling from that Yentl announcement, but I have a few more for you. blaq out/Facets continues with their collection of Jean-Claude Brisseau films in January with Workers for the Good Lord [Les savates du bon Dieu], starring Stanislas Merhar. Facets also continues their releases of Alexander Kluge's films with The Indomitable Leni Peikert [Die Unbezähmbare Leni Peickert]. Both street on 27 January. And in other Brisseau news, IFC has purchased the rights to his latest film, À l'aventure, when opens in France at the end of the month.

I've gotten word of a few of the Weinstein Company's February releases (which strangely do not include any IFC Films, just like January... more on that later). First is Marc Caro's first post-Jeunet feature Dante 01, a sci-fi flick with Lambert Wilson and Dominique Pinon, set for 3 Feb. The following week has Agnès Merlet's English-language Dorothy Mills, which stars the lovely Carice van Houten (Black Book). And look for Pascal Laugier's violent Martyrs on the 24th. According to the IMDb, Martyrs was originally hit with an 18 rating in France, a rating usually reserved for the sauciest of films.

New Yorker/Cinema Guild will release Christian Petzold's Yella on 10 February, which is currently on my short-list for the best films of 2008 (US release-wise). Koch Lorber's only title for February is Eric Rohmer's The Romance of Astrée and Céladon [Les amours d'Astrée et de Céladon], set for 10 February. And finally, Lionsgate/Studio Canal has the comedy I Do [Prête-moi ta main] with Charlotte Gainsbourg set for 13 January.

Previous 10: 24 September - Sex and Shitty

In defense of my inclusion of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and Young@Heart on the top list, I have this to say. For Miss Pettigrew, I found myself charmed beyond the film's shortcomings; for Young, the film was too entertaining and endearing for me to judge it any other way. Yeah, some critic I am defending movies for being "charming," "entertaining" and "endearing." Fuck. Derek is not astounding by any means, and I've heard a lot of people left the film disappointed, but it worked as a nice time capsule for Jarman's work and provided a nice outlet to hear Tilda Swinton speak. And, really, I have nothing to say about Sex & the City, so don't ask. And, yes, Another Gay Sequel may be well on its way to being the worst film of 2008, sliding just past Drillbit Taylor and What We Do Is Secret in my book.

La Crème

Derek - dir. Isaac Julien - UK - Kino - with Tilda Swinton, Derek Jarman

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - dir. Bharat Nalluri - UK - Focus Features - with Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Lee Pace, Shirley Henderson, Ciarán Hinds, Mark Strong, Tom Payne

Yella - dir. Christian Petzold - Germany - Cinema Guild - with Nina Hoss, Devid Striesow, Hinnerk Schönemann

Young@Heart - dir. Stephen Walker - USA/UK - Fox Searchlight

Les Autres

Alexandra [Aleksandra] - dir. Alexandr Sokurov - Russia/France - Cinema Guild - with Galina Vishnevskaya, Vasily Shevtsov

Doomsday - dir. Neil Marshall - UK/USA/South Africa/Germany - Rogue Pictures - with Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Malcolm McDowell, Craig Conway, Adrian Lester, Lee-Anne Liebenberg, Alexander Siddig, Sean Pertwee, Nathalie Boltt

The Plans of Man - dir. Rachael BernSousa - UK/USA - Cinequest - with Dean Loxton, Adriane Denia, Will Edenzor, Oneshin Aiken, Amanda Fullerton

Sex and the City - dir. Michael Patrick King - USA - New Line - with Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Chris Noth, Jennifer Hudson, David Eigenberg, Evan Handler, Jason Lewis, Willie Garson, Mario Cantone, Candice Bergen

The Bad

Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild! - dir. Todd Stephens - USA - TLA Releasing - with Jonah Blechman, Jake Mosser, Jimmy Clabots, Aaron Michael Davies, Euriamis Losada, Perez Hilton, RuPaul, The Lady Bunny, Stephanie McVay, Will Wikle, Amanda Lepore

Polar Opposites - dir. Fred Olen Ray - USA - here! Films - with Charles Shaughnessy, Beth Grant, Tracy Nelson, Ken Barnett, Kieren Hutchison