Four more countries have unveiled their candidates for the foreign language film category at next year's Academy Awards.
Norway has selected Trygve Allister Diesen's Hold My Heart (Tyven, Tyven); Colombia has put forward Lisandro Duque's Los Ninos Invisible (The Invisible Children); Chile is sending animated film Ogu Y Mampato En Rapa Nui by Alejandro Rojas; while Austria has submitted Lukas Stepanik and Robert Schindel's Gebirtig (Gebuertig).
Norway's Hold My Heart (Tyven, Tyven) is a drama about a father who kidnaps his own daughter and goes on the run. Part roadmovie and part social drama, it stars Jørgen Langhelle, Vera Rudi and Andrea Bræin Hovig and was written by the director in collaboration with Knut Kristiansen.
It was produced by Hilde Berg and Bent Rognlien for Norsk Filmproduksjon and was released domestically in March 2002, making its international premiere in Karlovy Vary. Since then it has screened in Taormina, Montreal, Sao Paulo and Lübeck. It is also in competition at the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles in November.
Colombia's Los Ninos Invisible (The Invisible Children) beat only one other film to secure the country's nomination, Bolivar Soy Yo by Jorge Ali Triana. These were the only two films that accepted to participate in the selection process. The story set in the 1950s revolves around a seven year old who makes himself invisible by following black magic instructions. The adventure drama has won the best film awards in the festivals of Bogota, Cartagena and New York's Latin American festival.
Chile's Ogu Y Mampato En Rapa Nui was a local box office hit that beat off rival live action El Fotografo by Sebastian Alarcon and Negocio Redondo by Ricardo Carrasco for the chance to go forward to the Oscars. Ogu And Mampato is based on a comic series by Themo Lobos.
Austrian entry Gebirtig (Gebuertig) is about the generation born after the Holocaust. The Austrian-German-Polish co-production between Cult-Film, Daniel Zuta's Cologne-based DaZu Film and Akson Studio in Warsaw, is based on Schindel's novel and stars Peter Simonischek, August Zirner, and Daniel Olbrychski. It screened in competition at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this summer.
No comments yet