Palme d’Or winner was picked by a nine-person jury.
Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner Amour has been chosen as the official Austrian entry to be considered for nomination in the Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Language Film category.
A nine-person jury appointed by the Austrian trade association FAMA convened yesterday (Sept 3) in Vienna to decide on the candidate.
According to the Austrian Film Commission (AFC), the jury was faced by a “particularly strong film year” for Austrian cinema. “2012 has been a year with a very broad presence of Austrian film-making at all major international festival events,” the AFC noted. “This exceptional year has been outshone by an extraordinary film. With the second Golden Palm that Michael Haneke received for Amour, a highpoint has not only been written in his artistic career, but also in Austrian film history.”
After making its decision, the jury described Amour as “a skilfully staged, formally stringent chamber piece. With two extraordinary actors, Haneke condenses the desperate love story of an elederly couple into a case study. The result is uncompromising, terrifying and moving in equal measure.”
Haneke’s previous film (and his first Palme d’Or winner) The White Ribbon had been submitted by Germany as its official entry for the Academy Awards in 2009 – much to the displeasure of the Austrians who would have liked to chosen that film to represent them in the annual race for the Foreign Language Film category nominations.
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