Academy Awards announced the nominees for the Best Foreign Language Film Award: A Fantastic Woman (Chile), The Insult (Lebanon), Loveless (Russia), Body and Soul (Hungary) and The Square (Sweden).
Good news is that The Insult, Winner of Cinema Without Borders’ Bridging The Borders Award is among the nominees. The big disappointment is that In The Fade,a masterpiece by Fatih Akin is missing from the list of nominees.
Chile, A Fantastic Woman , Director: Sebastián Lelio
A Fantastic Woman (Spanish: Una mujer fantástica) is a 2017 Chilean drama film directed by Sebastián Lelio. It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.
Lebanon, The Insult, Director: Ziad Doueiri
The Insult (French: L’insulte; Arabic: قضية رقم ٢٣, translit. Qadiyya raqm 23, lit. ‘Case No. 23’) is a 2017 French-Lebanese drama film directed by Ziad Doueiri. It was screened in the main competition section of the 74th Venice International Film Festival.[1] At Venice, Kamel El Basha won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. Lebanese Christian Tony (played by Adel Karam) and Palestinian refugee Yasser (played by Yasser El Basha) exchange harsh words after Yasser tries to repair a drainpipe on Tony’s balcony. The fallout leads to violence, courtroom confrontations and national attention.
https://youtu.be/lwVCaD971Eo
Russia, Loveless, Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Loveless (Russian: Нелюбовь) is a 2017 Russian drama film directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev. The story concerns two separated parents living apart whose affections are long forgotten and whose relationship has become loveless. They are temporarily brought together after their only young child becomes a missing person and they attempt to find him. The film was shot in Moscow, with international support after the Russian government disapproved of Zvyagintsev’s 2014 film Leviathan. Loveless opened to critical acclaim and it won the Jury Prize at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
https://youtu.be/s6QmSPNeNzk
Hungary, On Body and Soul, Director: Ildikó Enyedi
On Body and Soul (Hungarian: Testről és lélekről) is a 2017 Hungarian drama film directed by Ildikó Enyedi. It won the Golden Bear in the main competition section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. At Berlin it also won the FIPRESCI Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Alexandra Borbély won the European Actress award at the European Film Awards for her performance in the film.
The Square is a 2017 Swedish satirical drama film directed by Ruben Östlund and starring Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West, and Terry Notary. The film is about publicity surrounding an art installation, and was partly inspired by an installation Östlund and producer Kalle Boman had made. It was shot in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Berlin. The film was entered into the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, where it received positive reviews and won the Palme d’Or. It was subsequently selected for the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. It went on to win the European Film Award for Best Film and other honors.