Keeping pace with Hollywoods perpetual awards horserace.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
This year, the International frontrunner appears to beEmilia Perez, a trans-empowerment musical that received13 Oscar nominations.
Though the film takes place in Mexico, and is largely in Spanish, its the French submission.
It is, naturally, the German submission.
This season marks the seventh year in a row a foreign-language film has been nominated in Best Picture.
The International Film category is no longer a sidebar to the wider Oscar competition, but a springboardintoit.
Since its inception, the international category has operated by the rule of one country, one film.
Determining which movie makes it through is the job of each countrys selection committee.
The Academy mandates only that filmmakers, artists and craftspeople must comprise a majority of each selection committee.
With this new spotlight comes a growing awareness of the flaws of the current system.
Furthermore the selection process cant help but embroil the Oscars in domestic political conflicts.
Two years ago it was the Telugu-language epicRRRout of India.
Last year, the French legal dramaAnatomy of a Fall.
This season another Indian film, the Cannes prize-winnerAll We Imagine as Light.
Fortunately, this is no longer a death knell for a films trophy chances.
But the stakes are often considerably higher.
The film was shot in secret, with director Mohammad Rasoulof guiding the cast and crew remotely.
As you might expect, Iran did not choose the film as its official entry.
ThatSacredFigremained eligible for International Film is partly down to Rasoulofs decision to go into exile in Germany.
Is there any way to reform the International Film race?
The Academy has not been afraid to make minor changes to the category.
And the Academy continues to tinker with the nomination process.
Ive long wondered if the category might be better served by doing away with the overseas submission boards entirely.
Thats an argument worth respecting.
(Theyve won it withParasite, and seenAnatomy of a Fallgo unselected.Sacred Figis their nominee this year.)
But on the flip side, this is not Eurovision.
Imagine the Best Picture race if they only allowed one submission per studio.
Quinn proposes scrapping that rule.
He points to the Golden Globes, whose ownforeign-language categoryremains interesting and diverse despite featuring no such restrictions.
But he would not do away with selection committees entirely.
Maybe seven or eight International spots would be filled by films submitted by the committees.
But any single film missed is a career that has been overlooked.
Ive embedded the films trailer above.
The full version can be found on YouTube with very little digging.
News and Notes
A dispatch from a more innocent time when everything was coming upEmilia Perez.
A detailed timeline of every singleEmilia Perezcontroversy.
A story that does not mentionEmilia Perezat all.
