Is There Any Way to Fix Oscar’s International Film Category?

The ruling hero in the best category of international films in Oscar is The attention areaA movie directed by an English man, filmed in Poland, which is mostly German. Although director Jonathan Galazar before the cup, the award was technically gone to the Great Britain nation – the first Oscar win in this category, and their first candidate is not in Welsh.

This year, the international candidate seems to be Emilia PerezPassing music he received 13 Oscar nominations. Although the film takes place in Mexico, and it is largely in Spanish, it is the French presentation. This is because he was written and directed by a French man, and he shot my voice outside Paris – a testimony of the French creative imagination, as well as their long history of Tampering with Mexico. If music is stumbled – a scenario looks more logical now after it has become the Internet Tweet entitled Tweet and Racism From the star Carla Sofia Jaskoun – then it can be one alternative The sacred fig seedA torn drama of the lines about the protests that acquired Iran in 2022. It is, of course, the German presentation.

Since the academy’s membership has grown steadily more internationally over the past decade, the Oscar has undergone his own version of globalization. This season coincides with the seventh year in a row, and a foreign -language film was nominated in the best way. (Two, in fact, made it this year, as a Brazilian entry I am still here join Emilia Perez At the TEN Academy.) The category of international films is no longer the side ribbon to compete inside He – is.

However, this has only increased the number of ophthalmology over what might be the process of presenting the most complex academy. Since its inception, the international category has been working as a “one country, one movie”. If the nation produces a great work for cinema in one year, sorry, I have one. Determining the film it makes is the task of selecting each country. The committees of some countries belong to the official government agencies, such as the Brazilian Ministry of Culture; Others are part of independent organizations, such as Ifta in Ireland. The Academy only imposes that “film makers, artists and craftsmen” must include most of each selection committee.

With this new lights, it comes to be increasingly aware of the defects of the current system. In a world of international joint production- The attention area It has five companies to produce credit, based in three different countries – it may no longer make sense to be determined with one individual nation. Moreover, the selection process cannot help the Oscars involve in local political conflicts. In countries where ministries control the committee, films that are very critical of their governments have no little opportunity to present. The racing liquidation across countries also encourages the unhealthy type of international competition, such as we see now around it Emilia Perezany Brazil and Mexico I collaborated to download.

But the biggest issue for me is that, alone among Oscars, the international film puts people who are not in the academy responsible for what the academy members can nominate. This has been a particularly hot topic in the past three seasons, which has witnessed both popular competitors that have not been determined by their homelands. Two years ago, it was the epic language, Telgo RRR Outside India. Last year, French legal drama Anatomy of the fall. This season is another Indian movie, winner of the award All we imagine as light. Fortunately, this is no longer a death for the Film Cup opportunities. Grant voters Oscar RRR The best original song, and its treatment Anatomy of the fall As a major competitor, hand him the best original scenario along with the nominations in the image, director and actress. but All we imagine as light It was less fortunate: Although it was registered at the Golden Globe Nom, directed by Payal Kapadia, the film was closed in Oscar’s nominations last week.

Payal Capadia All we imagine as light.
Photo: Condor

Critics enjoy the decisions issued by the two in the morning, especially those that appear to be summarized in trivial and intermittent reasons. when Anatomy of the fall It was equipped by France, and rumors were involved that the committee did not look gently on the director Justin Tirt using the admission letter in its speech by Iman Emmanuel Macron, after accepting government funding for the film. (Treet fans were the last laughter once the French selection, romance cooking The taste of thingsHe went without assuming.) But the risks are often much higher.

Take The sacred fig seedIt begins as a family drama and then gradually expands to a wholesale indictment of the Iranian legal system. The film was secretly filmed, with director Mohamed Rasoulouf, who directs actors and the distance crew. Shortly before Sacred figs It was first shown at a festival festival, this same legal system was the arrest of Rasolov, forcing him to flee the country. As you may expect, Iran did not choose the film as an official entry. Which – which sacred fig He was partially qualified for the international film to the decision to go to exile in Germany. (Oscars state that creative control must be “largely in the hands of citizens or residents of the submitted state”; the fact that Sacred figs It has been produced in its production by a German company.)

This is an extremist, but similar stories occur every year. All we imagine as lightThe kitchen flexible drama than the nurses in Mumbai, may be explicitly less political, but as Sidhan Old lines, the Kapadia Katbel Film works hidden from the Hindu national policy of the Moody government, which may allud off for the reason not to be identified as well. In the West, last summer witnessed 20 Greek filmmakers Withdraw their films from looking In protest against government intervention in the selection committee.

Is there any way to reform the international movie race? The Academy was not afraid to make slight changes in the category. A few years ago, they got rid of the best movie name in the foreign language, in appreciation of the fact that for many Americans, Spanish and Mandarin are not “foreign” at all. Before that, they waived a rule that imposes the movie dialogue that should be in the official language of the country, which excluded titles such as Michael Hanik cache. The academy continues to tamper with the nomination process. (If you are curious: A self -specific committee that includes about 1,000 members and has relations with the international cinema industry dozens of presentations to a brief list of 15, after which the second committee of the same size is decided by the five candidates.)

I have long wondered whether the category may be presented better by getting rid of the application panels completely abroad. The academy has already has its own committees that cut the field – why do not the members not specify the official choice of each country, too? It was the most interesting counter argument for this that was presented by the representatives of the Indian Committee to explain the reason for not choosing All we imagine as light. They said that the Capadia movie felt that it was less similar to an Indian movie and resembles a European movie that was filmed in India. (In fact, it was a French joint production, and in a world without Emilia PerezIt may have finished presenting them instead.) From the committee’s point of view, their mission was not simply choosing the film with the best filtering snapshot, but to ensure the representation of the traditions of strong filmmaking in India. This is an argument worthy of respect. Likewise, the question about whether to get rid of these committees will enable the international class that dominates institutions such as the Cannes Festival. These are the people who rained Emilia Perez With praise – reminding this regiment for her A fair share of biasesalso.

In talks with the academy, I have the impression that, like any large organization, they are not ready to throw contracts from the precedent immediately in response to some scandals. They see the category of international films as closer to the World Cup or Olympic Games – a forum for countries to put their best against anyone else, while allowing countries to decide how they want to represent them. They insist that the base of “One Country, One Film” is the only thing that prevents voters from nominating a group of French and Italian films every year.

“The idea that every country can be represented as fair like the United Nations,” says Tom Queen, CEO of Neon, who is a frequent player in the international film race. (They won it ParasiteAnd he saw Anatomy of the fall Go without specification. Sacred figs He is their candidate this year.) “But on the other side, this is not Eurovich.” Queen says the rule of “one country, one movie” distorts the state of international cinema in any specific year. Imagine the best pictures racing if they only allow one to present each studio.

Quinn proposes to cancel this rule. Refers to Golden Globe, Foreign language category It is still interesting and varied, although there are no such restrictions. But he will not get rid of the entire selection committees. Instead, it suggests expanding all specialized groups – international film, documentary feature, and moving features – to ten candidates, and matching the best image. Seven or eight international sites may be filled with films provided by the committees. Additional sites can be occupied by members of the academy as they see them suitable, to ensure that worthy films that have not been presented can get their entitlement.

The Queen’s plan, like others, has its pros and cons, and I can imagine that it raises questions about the enlargement of the category in all fields. But it will be somehow to alleviate the negative aspect of movies like All we imagine as lightAnd that everyone agrees to appear somewhere in Oscar.

“Individuals in the academy who work on this are very conscience for this issue, and it is clear that the best films represented in all the five final candidates,” says Queen. “But any one lost movie is a profession that has been ignored.”

Another of the candidates for international films this year is to enter Latvia, flowWhich carries some differences in this year’s race. More importantly, it is a moving movie, about a group of animals of different types that cooperate to survive in the flood. But this is evidence that the academy was right to rename the previous foreign language category, because this film does not employ any human language at all – only Meows, Squawks, and Barks. I think flow It may be the first candidate of its kind, but after searching about it, I discovered that in reality the second movie without words is nominated in the international category. The first was the Algerian movie from 1983 called Lu PalWhich is in its own language … the language of dance!

It was directed by Italian Communist Itoor Scola, Lu Pal It is a metaphorical journey during 50 years of French history, which is fully informed by the design of dances. From the Popular Front to World War II to the Algerian war, it is basically a dream version of a dream Metrand: a study in ambiguity. The movie lost Oscar Vi and AlexanderAnd that I do not think that anyone will mix with it, but still, what a wonderful cultural being. I included the movie trailer above. The full version can be found on YouTube with a very little pits.

– Send more innocent time when everything came Emilia Perez.

– A detailed schedule for each individual Emilia Perez Controversy.

– An indelible story Emilia Perez Ever.