The UAE film festival successes destined for Oscar glory

The Best Foreign Language Film Oscar is unusual because it’s the only Academy Award that is not presented to an individual. Although it’s the tradition that the director of the winning film will pick up the statuette, the prize is actually awarded to the country where the film was produced.

This year, a record 83 countries submitted entries by the cut-off date of October 1 (for all other Oscar categories it is December 31). Each country can nominate only one film and that film must have been released in a commercial cinema in the home country for seven consecutive days – it’s the only Oscar that doesn’t require that the film has had a United States release.

Eighty-three films have been whittled down to a list of nine. The Phase I committee, a group that consists of several hundred Los Angeles-based Academy members, watch all of the films and select six, while the remaining three are voted on by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee.

Six of the nine films still in the running had their regional premiere at the Abu Dhabi or Dubai film festivals. Ida (Poland) was shown at ADFF in 2013. Timbuktu (Mauritania), Leviathan (Russia) and Corn Island(Georgia) all premiered at last year’s ADFF, while Force Majeure (Sweden) and Wild Tales (Argentina) played at Diff last month.

The other three films in contention are Tangerines (Estonia), Accused(Netherlands) and The Liberator (Venezuela).

From Friday, January 9 until Sunday, January 11, specially invited committees in New York, Los Angeles and – for the first time – London, will cut the list down to the final five nominees, which will be announced on January 15 along with the nominees in the other Oscar categories. But which ones stand a realistic chance of going all the way?

Original article by Kaleem Aftab

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The UAE film festival successes destined for Oscar glory