Foreign film Oscar submissions

[mathew5000]

Further to my previous blog entries here and here, the Academy now has officially announced the list of 58 films submitted by various countries for consideration in the Foreign Language Film Award category. According to the official rules:“All submissions sent to the Academy will be screened by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Committee(s

Comments

[mathew5000]

At thefilmexperience.net, Nathaniel R notes that in addition to Austria and Greece, Uruguay and Venezuela apparently had their submissions disqualified.

thanks for the information

[anonymous]

Thanks Matthew for the additional information. I still think Private was excluded because it was not politically appreciated. Just think, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers was an Italian one that made the cut of five by the academy, and it was in French, Hebrew and Arabic. Also, his Kapò was in a top five cut and while it is listed as being "Italian", I do not believe it was recorded in Italian. In fact, when I watch it, Susan Strasberg is dubbed, as are all of the other actors and actresses. I would like to find out more about what the two other films were that were excluded

Re: thanks for the information

[mathew5000]

I think you are mistaken in your belief that Private was disqualified “because it was not politically appreciated”. Keep in mind that the Academy accepted the anti-Israeli film Paradise Now as the official submission of Palestine.

If the Academy’s opposition to the film Private really was politically motivated, then why would it have wanted to call so much attention to the film by disqualifying it from contention? If the Academy had just accepted the film as Italy’s submission, but declined to nominate it, hardly anybody would ever hear of Private. Instead, lots of people are talking about it (for example, search the director’s name on Google).

The other films you mention, The Battle of Algiers and Kapò, are from the 1960s, well before the Academy’s current rules were adopted.