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The submissions for the 97th Oscars in the best international feature category are coming thick and fast as countries rush to get in their entries before the Nov. 14 deadline. Kazakhstan is the latest to pick a national contender, selecting Askhat Kuchinchirekov’s coming-of-age tale Bauryna Salu.

The feature premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival last year and was the stand-out at Kazakhstan’s national film honors, the Tulpars, winning the best film honor. It marks Kuchinchirekov’s feature-length debut as a director. International film fans will remember him for his acting turns in Sergei Dvortsevoy’s Tulpan, which won Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section back in 2008, and the Ayka in 2018, which made the Oscar shortlist for Best International Feature but was not nominated.

Bauryna Salu focuses on a young boy in rural Kazakhstan who is handed over to his grandmother at birth, in accordance with the nomadic tradition of...

Kazakhstan has submitted Askhat Kuchinchirekov’s coming-of-age tale Bauryna Salu to the Best International Feature Film category of the 97th Academy Awards, after it won best film at the country’s Tulpar cinema awards.

The drama revolves around a boy called Yersultan who was handed over to his grandmother at birth in accordance with a nomadic tradition called “Bauryna Salu,” to grow up disconnected from his parents.

When Yersultan turns 12, his grandmother dies and he goes to live with his parents for the first time. He struggles to restore his relationship with them, especially with his father, while dealing with the challenges of puberty at the same time.

The director drew on his own experiences growing up with his grandparents under the Bauryna Salu tradition for the film, which gives a rare insight into rural life in Kazakhstan.

The picture world premiered in the New Directors sidebar of San Sebastian...

While the war in Ukraine has upended global geopolitics and ratcheted up tensions between Russia and the West, the impact has been especially profound across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where many inhabitants have themselves been the victims of Moscow’s aggression in the past.

In Kazakhstan, which shares the world’s longest land border with Putin’s rogue state and was the last of the former Soviet republics to achieve independence, the past two years have not only seen the disruption of traditional political and economic ties but accelerated a process of uncoupling from Russian language and culture.

Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “the young generation started to be more aware and be more awake and passionate about [Kazakh] culture itself,” says 26-year-old filmmaker Aisultan Seitov, whose feature debut, “Qas” (Hunger), about the brutal Kazakh famine of the 1930s, won best director honors in the Asian New Talent...

Starring “Bones and All’s” Taylor Russell, Ewan McGregor and Ellen Burstyn, “Mother, Couch!” the feature debut of Sweden’s Niclas Larsson, features in a currently 11-title lineup of San Sebastian’s 2023 New Directors section, the most important sidebar at the highest-profile movie event in the Spanish-speaking world.

Notable in Trey Edward Shults’ raved-reviewed debut “Waves,” Russell stars in “Mother, Couch,” billed as dark dramedy that, produced by Lyrical Media and Suris/Bishop Films, has largely flown under the radar. Though “Mother, Couch!” Is his feature debut, Larsson is a high-profile short filmmaker, his Vatten (2013) earned the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Göteborg, and 2015’s “The Magic Dinner” starred Alicia Vikander and Anna Wintour.

Section’s other highest-profile title is supernatural art house drama “Last Shadow at First Light,” shot between Singapore and Japan and directed by Nicole Midori and described by Variety as examining “the intangible nature...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

An unusual partnership between Kazakhstan and Japan is behind the film “The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time” and it is not just a co-production. The film is in fact co-directed by Kazakh filmmaker Yerlan Nurmukhambetov and Japanese Lisa Takeba – who allegedly met at a party in Cannes – and stars among others, Kazakh film actress Samal Yeslyamova, winner of best actress at Cannes for “Ayka” in 2018, and Japanese actor Mirai Moriyama. The film had its premiere at Busan International Film Festival on the 3rd of October and it is being screened in cinemas around Japan as I write. The odd English title may sound a bit arcane, while the Japanese one – which translates “Olzhas’ White Horse” – goes straight to the point; however, the simple explanation is that “Roads of Time” is the series of paintings by Kazakh artist Gali Myrzashev which are shown during the end credits.

“The Horse Thieves. Roads...

Kim Williams has been elected president of the Casting Society of America, and Caroline Liem has been elected vice president as part of CSA’s newly elected board of directors. Williams is the fifth woman, and the second woman of color, to helm the organization since its founding in 1982.

Williams is vice president of casting at Disney Television Studios, a post she’s held since October 2019. She oversaw casting for the recently completed pilot of Lee Daniels’ The Spook Who Sat by the Door for FX, and the Emmy-nominated Genius: Aretha for Nat Geo. She also oversees casting for The Chi for Showtime and the upcoming The Old Man starring Jeff Bridges for FX. Williams also serves as casting director for the upcoming Freeform series Single Drunk Female.

As director of casting at ABC, Williams worked on projects for the network, Disney+ and ABC Studios, including the drama series For Life.

After appearances at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section (for “Our Children” in 2012) and the Directors Fortnight sidebar (for “After Love” in 2016), Belgian director Joachim Lafosse has landed in Cannes’ most prestigious section, the Main Competition. In fact, he’s at the tail end of that section: His film “The Restless,” which screened for the press on Thursday, will be the last of 24 competition titles to screen for Spike Lee’s jury and the Cannes audience on Friday, the day before the festival will conclude with its awards ceremony.

That’s not the kiss of death by any means: At the last four Cannes, one of the movies that screened on the final day went on to win something from the jury, with three of them picking up acting awards.

And as is par for the course for Lafosse, his new film is an acting showcase for its leads,...

Los Angeles-based production-distribution house Cinema Libre Studio has acquired U.S. rights to Frédéric Choffat and Julie Gilbert’s “My Little One,” in the wake of its U.S. premiere at the Miami Film Festival.

The deal was closed by Philippe Diaz, Cinema Libre Studio chairman and Loic Magneron, founder of Paris’ Wide Management, the film’s sales agent.

Produced by Anne Deluz and Jessica Huppert Berman for Luc Peter’s Intermezzo Films and Les Films du Tigre, and co-produced by public broadcaster Radio Télévision Suisse (Rts), “My Little One” has been seen to date, of festivals, at Germany’s Frankfurt Biennal, Tübingen and Stuttgart and Mannheim-Heidelberg, as well as France’s Beaujolais French-Language Cinema Meetings and Switzerland’s Solothurn Film Festival, before its theatrical release in Switzerland.

“My Little One” has been licensed to South Korea in an all rights deal and to Eastern Europe, for premium pay TV and VOD.

Disney Television Studios is expanding its casting executive team adding Kim Williams and Dylann Brander Gunning as VPs of Casting for Fox 21 Television Studios and ABC Studios, respectively.

“Kim and Dylann both have incredible instinct and taste, and I’ve been fortunate to have them work on several of our studio’s projects as independent casting directors. I’ve had my eye on them for years, and jumped at the opportunity to bring them into the Disney Television Studios fold as we build out our incredibly talented team,” said Evp Casting of Disney Television Studios and FX Entertainment, Sharon Klein.

Williams will report into Lindsey Kasabian, head of casting for Fox 21 Television Studios, and Gunning will report into Jonathan Bluman, head of casting for ABC Studios.

Williams joined ABC as director of casting in 2019, working on projects for the network, Disney+ and ABC Studios, including For Life, Baker and the Beauty and Single Parents.

An unusual partnership between Kazakhstan and Japan is behind the film “The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time” and it is not just a co-production. The film is in fact co-directed by Kazakh filmmaker Yerlan Nurmukhambetov and Japanese Lisa Takeba – who allegedly met at a party in Cannes – and stars among others, Kazakh film actress Samal Yeslyamova, winner of best actress at Cannes for “Ayka” in 2018, and Japanese actor Mirai Moriyama. The film had its premiere at Busan International Film Festival on the 3rd of October and it is being screened in cinemas around Japan as I write. The odd English title may sound a bit arcane, while the Japanese one – which translates “Olzhas’ White Horse” – goes straight to the point; however, the simple explanation is that “Roads of Time” is the series of paintings by Kazakh artist Gali Myrzashev which are shown during the end credits.

“The Horse Thieves. Roads...

Beijing Juben Productions has taken over rights to the popular “Wolf Totem” novel from China Film Group and is working on a sequel to be delivered in 2021 or Chinese New Year 2022. It also has a zombie film up its sleeve, as well as a British co-production about Shakespeare and a Chinese drama with half an eye on Cannes.

The firm, whose Mandarin name “Juben” translates to “script,” was founded by producer Luna Wang in 2013 and employs a team of ten. It focuses on artistic films with mainstream commercial potential and has mostly worked with early-career directors.

One of its first projects was 2013 comedy “American Dreams in China,” by Peter Chan Ho-sun who is this week head of the competition jury at the International Film Festival Macao.

Juben went on to back “12 Citizens,” a 2014 Chinese remake of “12 Angry Men,” and last year’s “Ayka,” which was shortlisted for the Oscars...

This year, with some mighty titles from the Maghreb evaluated alongside the rest of continental Africa, the competitive potential of the Middle East lineup handicapped here may seem a tad diminished. Nevertheless, the territory boasts a possible short-list contender in Palestinian helmer Elia Suleiman’s wry travelog “It Must Be Heaven,” which nabbed the international critics award at 2019 Cannes.

Back in 2003, Suleiman’s second feature, “Divine Intervention,” marked the first of 12 submissions made by Palestine over the years. During that time, the entries resulted in two nominations, both for films helmed by Hany Abu-Assad: “Paradise Now” (2005) and “Omar” (2013). Now, Suleiman, like Abu-Assad, is recognized as an elder statesman of Palestinian filmmaking as well as an accomplished auteur whose films continue to bear witness to the surreal and the absurd in Palestinian life at home and abroad. Although his work is better-known in Europe than in the U.S., “It Must Be Heaven...

Stories of transcendence in the face of adversity dominated the Ji.hlava docu fest in the Czech Republic Monday, with a precedent-setting award for best film shared among 10 imprisoned juveniles in Madagascar.

The Opus Bonum main competition award, granted by a sole juror, Romanian director Cristi Puiu, went to “Fonja” by German filmmaker Lina Zacher, the story of 10 juvenile delinquents in the largest detention facility on the island nation. The boys joined a four-month workshop to be trained in filming, editing, creating simple cinematic tricks and telling their own stories.

Puiu, who said the film “kept me awake” and gave him “a dumb smile of genuine satisfaction,” praised Zacher for “the warmth, the intuition, the trust, the courage and generosity that are holding together a film.”

The winners, Ravo Henintsoa Andrianatoandro, Lovatiana Desire Santatra, Sitraka Hermann Ramanamokatra, Jean Chrisostome Rakotondrabe, Erick Edwin Andrianamelona, Elani Eric Rakotondrasoa, Todisoa Niaina Sylvano Randrialalaina,...

Cumbersome title aside, “The Horse Thieves: Roads of Time” represents . This highly unusual co-production, co-directed by Kazakh filmmaker Yerlan Nurmukhambetov (“Walnut Tree”) and rising Japanese director Lisa Takeba, feels honest to the point of naïve, marked by a gentle pace, with only the widescreen vistas of dusty red hills backdropped by sharply sculpted white mountains, and a late swerve into Western genre territory, lending this small-scale tale its epic dimensions.

Representing as it does a collaboration that straddles the entire region, it is perhaps a pity that the film itself is not a little more bombastic, as well as a surprise that this hybridization of different cinematic traditions does not yield something more multi-layered. Instead, even given the presence of Samal Yesyamova, Cannes Best Actress winner for 2018’s “Ayka,” “Horse Thieves” is heartfelt but a little too straightforward to feel anything but minor, just like the key in which its sad-eyed drama plays.

Audiences watching Busan’s opening night film “The Horse Thieves” will get to see a universal and somewhat linear tale of greed, cruelty and man’s uneasy place in nature. Behind the scenes, however, it was a learning and co-operative experience between film makers from different cultures.

A rare Kazakhstan-Japan co-production, “Horse Thieves” was co-directed by Yerlan Nurmukhambetov and Japan’s Lisa Takeba. It stars Samal Yeslyamova, Cannes prize winner for her performance in “Ayka,” opposite Japanese heart throb Moriyama Morai, known for his roles in “Rage” and 2004 smash hit “Crying out Love in the Center of the World.”

Having agreed to cooperate, the two directors held multiple, prolonged Internet phone calls in order to shape the story and the script. They examine the consequences that flow from the slaying of a horse farmer who had taken his flock to market.

“Our initial plan on the set was for a division of labor,...

Other winners at the 40th edition of the second-oldest festival dedicated to cinematographers included The Wild Goose Lake, Piranhas and Ayka. The 40th edition of the Manaki Brothers International Cinematographers' Film Festival (14-21 September) in Bitola, North Macedonia, saw French DoP Hélène Louvart scoop the main award of the event, the Golden Camera 300, for her work on Karim Aïnouz's Cannes Un Certain Regard winner The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmāo. The Silver Camera 300 went to Jinsong Dong, the DoP on Diao Yinan's Cannes competition entry The Wild Goose Lake, while Daniele Cipri received the Bronze Camera 300 for his work on Claudio Giovannesi's Berlinale competition title Piranhas. In addition, Poland's Jolanta Dylewska received a Special Mention for Sergey Dvortsevoy's Ayka. The short-film competition was also dominated by Cannes pictures, with Argentina's Constanza Sandoval picking up the Small Camera 300 for her work on Augustina San Martin's Monster God...

“Leaving Las Vegas” director, Mike Figgis will head the jury of the New Currents competition at the Busan International Film Festival in October.

He will be joined by: Karel Och, artistic director of the Karlovy Vary Iff; Samal Yeslyamova, the winner of the best actress award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival 2018 for “Ayka”; Malaysian actress Lee Sinje (“The Eye”); and Korean sales agent and producer Suh Youngjoo, CEO of Finecut. They will select two winning films which will each receive $30,000 prizes.

Figgis, a British film maker who previously attended the second edition of the Busan festival, with 1997 picture “One Night Stand,” also directed “Timecode” in 2000, the first real-time digital film ever made.

Iranian filmmaker, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Huh Moonyung, program director of the Busan Cinema Center, and Malaysian director Tan Chui Mui Love Conquers All are set as the three jury members for the Kim Jiseok Award. They will...

With more international co-productions in cinemas than ever before and a new crop of high-profile titles this year, Germany’s renown as fertile ground for foreign filmmakers continues to soar.

The number of German-backed cross-border titles in local theaters rose 30% last year to 98 — the most ever — and the trend looks set to continue. This year a slew of German co-productions are vying for Cannes’ Palme d’Or, among them Terrence Malick’s historical drama “A Hidden Life”; Jessica Hausner’s sci-fi thriller “Little Joe”; Marco Bellocchio’s mafia pic “The Traitor”; Corneliu Porumboiu’s “The Whistlers”; and Elia Suleiman’s “It Must Be Heaven.”

Key to the country’s filmmaking allure is a generous system of federal and regional funding sources and a dynamic film industry geared toward international co-production.

Leading companies include Pallas Films, whose credits include “It Must Be Heaven” and Sergey Dvortsevoy’s “Ayka”; Pandora Film, co-producer...

Eighteen prizes were presented on Wednesday afternoon at the closing ceremony of the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum. The project market sits alongside FilMart as part of the Entertainment Expo in Hong Kong.

“Wong Tai Sin Assassination” to be directed by Wong Hoi and produced by Derek Kwok Tsz-kin, was named the winner of the Haf Award for Hong Kong films. “Our Apprenticeship” to be directed by Hamaguchi Ryusuke, and produced by Yamamoto Teruhisa, won the Haf award for international projects.

In the documentary category, “Odoriko,” directed by Okutani Yoichiro, and produced by Shiobara Fumiko was named the best film.

The film project market is in its 17th edition and remains one of the most influential in the world. Albert Lee, director of the Hong Kong International FIlm Festival, called Haf: “such a useful springboard for film projects.”

Completed recent films that benefitted from Haf support include Chinese smash hit “Dying to Survive,...

It was another successful night for Hirokazu Koreeda’s “Shoplifters“, which won Best Picture at the 13th Asian Film Awards, beating the likes of Lee Chang-dong’s critically acclaimed “Burning” and the hugely successful Chinese film “Dying to Survive” to the prize. The film also won Best Original Music for Haroumi Hosono’s wonderful music.

Director Lee Chang-dong, who returned with “Burning” after an eight years’ absence, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also awarded Best Director on the night for “Burning”.

The Best Actor/Actress Awards were evenly shared between productions of different countries, with Koji Yakusho replicating his win at the Japan Academy Awards with a Best Actor win for “The Blood of Wolves“, Zhang Yu winning Best Supporting Actor for the Chinese film “Dying to Survive”, Samal Yeslyamova winning Best Actress for the Russian-German-Polish-Kazakh-Chinese joint production “Ayka” and Kara Hui winning Best Supporting Actress for...

“Shoplifters” and “Burning” were the big winners at the 13th Asian Film Awards, with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s family drama winning Best Picture and Lee Chang-dong being named Best Director for his cerebral thriller. “Shadow” led all films by taking home four prizes, with Zhang Yimou’s epic period piece winning four technical awards: Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

Samal Yeslyamova received Best Actress laurels for her performance in “Ayka,” just as she did at Cannes last year, with “The Blood of Wolves” star Yakusho Kōji joining her as Best Actor. “Burning” only left the ceremony with one of the eight prizes for which it was nominated, but Lee received a Lifetime Achievement award as well. Full list of winners:

Best Picture

“Shoplifters”

Best Director

Lee Chang-dong, “Burning”

Best Actor

Yakusho Kōji, “The Blood of Wolves”

Best Actress

Samal Yeslyamova, “Ayka”

Best Supporting Actor

Zhang Yu,...

Zhang Yimou’s highly stylized period epic “Shadow” was the numerical winner at Sunday’s Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong. It bagged four technical awards. But the major prizes went to Japanese and Korean filmmakers.

Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Shoplifters,” a Japanese drama about a family surviving on shoplifting, was named best picture. The film had been the surprise Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes festival last year, but has since won wide acclaim and achieved record scores at the Japanese and Chinese box office.“Shoplifters” also won best original music with Japanese music pioneer Hosono Haruomi’s score.

South Korean director Lee Chang-dong won the best director prize for the psychological drama “Burning”, which Lee also co-wrote as an adaptation of a Murakami Haruki short story. Going into the ceremony, “Burning” was the favorite, having been nominated in eight categories. Lee was also presented with a lifetime achievement award,...

“Bodies at Rest,” a Chinese-language crime thriller directed by Beijing-resident Renny Harlin (“Die Hard 2”) has been set as the opening title of the Hong Kong International Film Festival. The festival will close with Francois Ozon’s “By the Grace of God,” which recently claimed the grand prize in Berlin.

Between the two events, the festival will unspool 230 titles from 63 countries and regions, of which 64 are world, international and Asian premieres. The festival, under the new leadership of Albert Lee, will run March 18-April 1.

Other highlights include gala screenings of: “Synonyms,” the winner of the Berlinale’s Golden Bear for best film, by Israeli director Nadav Lapid; Peter Jackson’s restored footage Wwi documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old”; and “First Night Nerves,” by Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan.

Chinese director Lou Ye’s “The Shadow Play” will receive a special screening after Lou, Jiang Wen, Tony Leung Ka-fai, actress...

When Berlin Film Festival chief Dieter Kosslick launched the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2003, he probably couldn’t have imagined the impact it would go on to have. Now called Berlinale Talents, the festival’s development program for emerging filmmakers has seen 5,673 “Talents” pass through its doors — many of whom have gone on to forge successful careers in the industry.

Kosslick is being honored at the Berlin Film Festival with Variety‘s Achievement in International Film Award.

Take, for example, this year: seven films by nine former Talents made it onto the shortlists for the 2019 Oscars. Anna Wydra, part of the 2012 intake, produced the Polish doc “Communion,” which is in the running for documentary, as well as Kazakhstan’s entry for foreign-language film, “Ayka.” Similarly, Sandino Saravia Vinay, from 2004’s edition, was involved in the production of Colombia’s entry, “Birds of Passage,” and in Mexico’s “Roma.”

Around 70 Talents alumni...

A new documentary component means that the work-in-progress section of this year’s Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum will double from 10 to 20 projects. The selection includes Ruby Yang (“The Blood of Yingzhou District”) and Hou Hsiao-hsien (“The Assassin”) as documentary producers, and Brillante Mendoza (“Kinatay”) as producer on the fiction side.

The Wip program expands the long-running Haf project support operations. It creates a platform for late-stage projects seeking closing funds, post-production partners, distributors, sales agents, festivals and other film-industry services

In its first two years the Wip section of Haf has presented notable films which enjoyed festival success last year. They include “Ayka,” which collected the best actress award in Cannes this year, and “The Man Who Surprised Everyone,” which won the Orrizonti Award for best actress at the Venice festival.

“With the expanded platform, Haf will become the first project market to receive both fictional and documentary...

To really nail your Oscar predictions you don’t just need to get the lay of the land when it comes to Best Picture. You also need to know your stuff when it comes to Best Foreign Language Film, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Animated Feature, which are often notorious for leaving out perceived front-runners in favor of out-of-left-field inclusions. Gold Derby contributors Charles Bright and Riley Chow recently joined me for a slugfest to debate these tough-to-call races. Watch our video above.

See our slugfest predicting the eight below-the-line races.

Best Foreign Language Film seems like a race to see which four films will lose to Alfonso Cuaron‘s “Roma,” which is a strong contender not just for this award but for Best Picture after its multiple victories at the Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards. The other eight titles shortlisted by the academy are “Ayka,” “Birds of Passage,...

Even in the streaming age, some movies travel slowly. For every “Bird Box,” which debuted on Netflix a month after its world premiere at AFI Fest, there are dozens of films like “Donbass,” “Ayka,” and “Asako I & II,” all of which just screened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival nearly a year after first debuting elsewhere and have yet to receive stateside distribution. That such festival-circuit deep cuts would receive pride of place in the California desert may come as a surprise to anyone with a passing knowledge of the awards-season fest, which is best known for toasting soon-to-be Oscar nominees and winners; this year’s honorees included Glenn Close, Rami Malek, and Timothée Chalamet.

For world cinema–inclined cinephiles, however, Palm Springs’ status as an Academy-adjacent affair has a worthwhile side benefit: 43 of the 87 official submissions for the Foreign Language prize made their way into the lineup,...

"You've got two days, got it? If you don't pay it by then... it's gonna turn ugly..." The Match Factory has debuted an official trailer for a Russian drama titled Ayka, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year where it won the Best Actress award. Samal Yeslyamova stars in the lead role as Ayka, a woman who just gave birth to a child, but has no money or job or any way to properly raise her child. The small cast includes Aleksandr Zlatopolskiy. Newcomer Samal Yeslyamova won the coveted Best Actress award in Cannes, and the film has picked up numerous awards at other festivals throughout last year. It's still seeking Us distribution, so this is just a promo trailer to drum up interest in the film. This has some striking visuals, but seems so depressing and brutal in portraying a young woman struggling to survive in the chill of Russia.

Mexico has never won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but it looks like that drought is about to end thanks to “Roma,” which is a rare foreign language film that is also an Oscar contender for Best Picture. However, our southern neighbor also looked like a sure bet to win 12 years ago for “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006) only to be upset by Germany’s “The Lives of Others.” Now the director of that film, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, is back with another Foreign Film contender, “Never Look Away.” Will history repeat itself?

There have been eight Mexican movies nominated for Best Foreign Language Film: “Macario” (1960), “The Important Man” (1961), “Tlayucan” (1962), “Letters from Marusia” (1975), “Amores Perros” (2000), “The Crime of Father Amaro” (2002), the aforementioned “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006) and most recently “Biutiful” (2010). The fact that the nation hasn’t won is ironic given the recent success of Mexican filmmakers in English-language movies.

Sign...

A collective sigh by critics greeted Monday’s announcement of the nine films shortlisted for this year’s foreign-language film Oscar. For once, though, it was a sigh of relief rather than exasperation, with few complaints arising over the chosen titles, which were broadly acclaimed.

Controversy over prominent omissions is practically an annual tradition. Last year, critics castigated the Academy for leaving out France’s celebrated AIDS drama “120 Beats Per Minute,” while the year before that, they lambasted the snubbing of Pedro Almodovar’s “Julieta” and Paul Verhoeven’s “Elle” (which went on to nab a nomination for Isabelle Huppert). From “Gomorrah” to “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” to “Two Days, One Night,” the roll call of recent critics’ darlings to fall at this first hurdle is a distinguished one.

The Academy addressed the outcry that followed the sidelining of 2007 Palme d’Or winner “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days...

The just-announced short list of nine foreign-language films vying for one of five Academy Award ballot slots offers a rich and varied swath of global cinema, ranging from Mexico’s already-lauded “Roma,” which is up for three Golden Globes and won the Golden Lion at Venice, to South Korea’s “Burning,” the country’s first contender since 1962 to make the cut. The whole line-up:

“Birds of Passage”(Colombia) — directed by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra

“The Guilty” (Denmark) — directed by Gustav Moller

“Never Look Away”(Germany) — directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

“Shoplifters” (Japan) — directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda

“Ayka” (Kazakhstan) — directed by Sergei Dvortsevoy

Capernaum (Lebanon), — directed by Nadine Labaki

“Roma” (Mexico) — directed by Alfonso Cuaron

“Cold War” (Poland) — directed by Pawel Pawlikowski

Burning (Korea) — directed by Lee Chang-dong

What strikes me is that two of the nine, whose fates will be determined on January 22, are either directed or co-directed...

The Oscars statues backstage at The 87th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, February 22, 2015.

Three hundred forty-seven feature films are eligible for the 2018 Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

To be eligible for 91st Academy Awards consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by December 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days. https://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/91st_reminder_list.pdf

Under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.

Feature films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category. The “Reminder List of...

Yesterday afternoon, the Academy did something brand new. The announced nine shortlists for the upcoming 91st Academy Awards. Yes, the Oscars are hinting at some of their below the line finalists. In the categories of Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Animated Short Film, Best Live Action Short Film, and Best Visual Effects, we now have a narrowed field. Essentially, Academy voters can now focus in on just a handful of titles in these categories. The wisdom of that remains to be seen, but time will tell if we get a different set of nominees than expected because of this. For now, get used to it. This is the new normal, Oscar voting wise… Below you’ll be able to see the nine lists that voters will be selecting from. In Best Documentary Feature,...

Cinema Rima Das' Assamese film 'Village Rockstars' is the story of a young girl who wants to buy a guitar and start a rock band.IANSIndia's official entry for the best "Foreign Language Film" category at the Oscars 2018, Village Rockstars, is out of the race for the honour, as is Iram Haq's Norwegian drama What Will People Say, starring Indian actors. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences on Monday announced that nine films have advanced to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 91st Academy Awards, according to the official Oscars website. An Assamese movie, Village Rockstars is set in director Rima Das' own village of Chhaygaon in Assam. It is the story of "poor but amazing children" who live a fun-filled life. So far, Mother India, Salaam Bombay! and Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India are...

Updated, writethru: From a field of 87 submissions to the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar category, nine movies have now advanced to the shortlist. Working with one of the strongest years in recent memory, the Phase I Committee and the Executive Committee have settled on such favorites as Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters.

Among the films left off the list is Golden Globe nominee and Cannes Camera d’Or winner Girl by Belgium’s Lukas Dhont. That film has seen backlash from rights groups regarding the casting of a cisgender actor in a trans role. Also not making the cut is Sweden’s audacious Border, which did however score as a finalist for the Make Up and Hairstyling race. A surprise inclusion is Kazakhstan’s Ayka, the Cannes Best Actress-winning drama from Sergei Dvortsevoy. And, in Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, Korea finally makes the shortlist.

For the 2019 Oscars, 87 countries submitted eligible entries, down from 92 last year. The shortlist of nine came from the foreign-language committee: six from the general committee drawn from participating voters from all Academy branches, and three from the executive committee appointed by this year’s new foreign-language czars, screenwriter Larry Karaszewski and Participant’s Diane Weyermann.

On the shortlist are Cannes Best Director Pawel Pawlikowski’s follow-up to Oscar-winner “Ida,” the bittersweet period romance “Cold War” (Amazon Studios), starring incandescent breakout Joanna Kulig and two poverty-row melodramas, Hirozaku Kore-eda’s “Shoplifters” — which won Cannes’ Palme d’Or and a Magnolia deal — and Lebanese Nadine Labaki’s heart-tugging crowdpleaser “Capernaum” (Sony Pictures Classics), which scored the Jury Prize in Cannes.

Kazakhstan’s “Ayka” won an acting award for Samal Yesyamova, and returning to possible contention is Colombia’s drug-cartel adventure “Birds of Passage” (The Orchard), from co-directors (and ex-spouses) Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra,...

For the 2019 Oscars, 87 countries submitted eligible entries, down from 92 last year. The shortlist of nine came from the foreign-language committee: six from the general committee drawn from participating voters from all Academy branches, and three from the executive committee appointed by this year’s new foreign-language czars, screenwriter Larry Karaszewski and Participant’s Diane Weyermann.

On the shortlist are Cannes Best Director Pawel Pawlikowski’s follow-up to Oscar-winner “Ida,” the bittersweet period romance “Cold War” (Amazon Studios), starring incandescent breakout Joanna Kulig and two poverty-row melodramas, Hirozaku Kore-eda’s “Shoplifters” — which won Cannes’ Palme d’Or and a Magnolia deal — and Lebanese Nadine Labaki’s heart-tugging crowdpleaser “Capernaum” (Sony Pictures Classics), which scored the Jury Prize in Cannes.

Kazakhstan’s “Ayka” won an acting award for Samal Yesyamova, and returning to possible contention is Colombia’s drug-cartel adventure “Birds of Passage” (The Orchard), from co-directors (and ex-spouses) Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra,...

The Academy unveiled the shortlists for nine different categories on Monday, including Best Foreign Language Film, Original Song, Original Score, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Live-Action Short, Animated Short, Visual Effects and Makeup & Hairstyling.

In the Best Foreign Language film category, nine films advanced from the eligible 87 films submitted from as many countries. Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” from Mexico, Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War” from Poland and Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum” from Lebanon were on the Oscars shortlist and are all favorites to be nominated.

Also on the list, from Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Palme d’Or winning film “Shoplifters” and Lee Chang-dong’s South Korean film “Burning,” which stars Steven Yeun. Rounding out the list were Colombia’s “Birds of Passage,” Denmark’s thriller “The Guilty,” Germany’s “Never Look Away,” and Kazakhstan’s “Ayka.”

“Birds of Passage” was co-directed by Ciro Guerra, whose “Embrace of the Serpent” was nominated...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced shortlists of semi-finalists in nine separate categories. From here, the organization’s separate respective branches will vote to determine nominees, which will be announced along with all other Oscar categories next month.

This year marks the first year since 1979 that shortlists have been revealed in the music categories. In the makeup/hairstyling and visual effects categories, branch members will vote at January “bake-off” events featuring reels demonstrating the work.

See below for the surviving artists and titles. Nominations for the 91st annual Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019.

Documentary Feature

“Charm City”

“Communion”

“Crime + Punishment”

“Dark Money”

“The Distant Barking of Dogs”

“Free Solo”

“Hale County This Morning, This Evening”

“Minding the Gap”

“Of Fathers and Sons”

“On Her Shoulders”

“Rbg”

“Shirkers”

“The Silence of Others”

“Three Identical Strangers”

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

Documentary (Short Subject...

For the first time in Oscars history, the academy released the short lists in nine categories all at once. On Monday, December 17, the hopefuls in a wide range of races found out if they are still in contention for the 91st annual Academy Awards. Among these are the marquee awards for Best Foreign Language Film (which was pared down to nine films from the 87 submitted) and Best Documentary Feature (which went from 166 to 15).

The race for Best Visual Effects, which has already been narrowed down to 20 films, was cut in half. Both music awards – Best Original Song and Best Original Score — were winnowed down to just 15 contenders from upwards of 100 submission while the Best Makeup and Hairstyling category will have just seven. And the three awards for shorts – animated, documentary and live-action — were culled from dozens of entries to 10 apiece.

See 2019 Oscar nominations: 10 Academy Awards with special rules – Original Song,...

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards are to increase their role in film funding through the establishment of a new film development prize worth $20,000.

The Apsa Academy Sun Yat-Sen Bo Ai Film Fund is launched as a venture between the awards body and the Sun Yat-Sen Cultural Foundation, a charitable organization founded by descendants of 20th century Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen.

The first recipient is “The Cave,” a treatment for a feature documentary about five women doctors who work in an underground hospital in war-torn Syria. The film is written and directed by Feras Fayyad. The announcement was made Thursday, during the Apsa ceremony in Brisbane Australia.

Selection of the winner was made by a committee involving producer and sales agent Alexandra Sun, festival selector Philip Cheah, and Apsa founding chairman Des Power. “(‘The Cave’) is a film that exudes compassion, the best of the human spirit at a time of the worst in human behavior,...

The Tokyo Filmex festival concluded its 2018 edition by giving its grand prize to Sergey Dvortsevoy’s “Ayka.” This was the first edition of the festival under the control of property to entertainment group, Kinoshita.

“Ayka” debuted in competition in Cannes earlier this year. It is a drama about an immigrant woman struggling to survive against overwhelming odds in Moscow.

“Jinpa,” a brooding and mysterious Tibetan road movie, directed by Pema Tseden, collected the second-place grand jury prize. The film had its premiere in Venice, where it won the best screenplay award. Japanese mystery, “His Lost Name,” directed by Hirose Nanako earned a special mention.

In parallel to the juried prizes, the festival presented other awards. The audience award went to “Complicity,” by Chikaura Kei. A student jury awarded its prize to Chinese director Bi Gan’s “A long Day’s Journey Into Night,” which had made its first appearance in Un Certain regard in Cannes.

Ayka by Sergey Dvortsevoy won the grand prix at Tokyo Filmex, which wrapped Sunday after seeing a 26 percent jump in attendances over last year.

The Russia-Kazakhstan drama follows a Kyrgyz woman who abandons her newborn at a hospital and moves to Moscow to make money to repay a debt. The film was in competition for the Palme D'Or at Cannes this year and won best actress there for Samal Yeslyamova. Ayka is this year's Kazakh entry for foreign language Oscar.

Tibet-China film Jinpa by Pema Tseden, which won best screenplay in the Horizons section at Venice, won the special jury prize.

Showing ...

Ayka by Sergey Dvortsevoy won the grand prix at Tokyo Filmex, which wrapped Sunday after seeing a 26 percent jump in attendances over last year.

The Russia-Kazakhstan drama follows a Kyrgyz woman who abandons her newborn at a hospital and moves to Moscow to make money to repay a debt. The film was in competition for the Palme D'Or at Cannes this year and won best actress there for Samal Yeslyamova. Ayka is this year's Kazakh entry for foreign language Oscar.

Tibet-China film Jinpa by Pema Tseden, which won best screenplay in the Horizons section at Venice, won the special jury prize.

Showing ...

The Cairo Film Festival, for its 40th edition, is reinventing itself.

With Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy at the helm who, at 43, is its youngest president, the oldest fest in the Arab and African worlds is undergoing a radical revamp in a major effort to get its mojo back after a decade of decline due to the country’s post-revolution turbulence.

Hefzy, who is known internationally for the steady stream of edgy top notch titles birthed by his Film Clinic shingle — most recently Cannes standout “Yomeddine,” which is Egypt’s current candidate for the foreign-language Oscar — is the first Cairo fest chief chosen from within the country’s film industry ranks. Since being appointed in March he has been working incessantly in tandem with respected critic and academic Youssef Sherif Rizkalla, who remains the fest’s artistic director.

Eight months later, the signs of renewal are visible. Starting from a reconfiguration...

Sergey Dvortsevoy’s Russian drama Ayka wins best film.

Russian director Sergey Dvortsevoy’s Ayka, about a young woman attemping to survive after abandoning her baby in Moscow, was the big winner at Germany’s Filmfestival Cottbus (Nov 6-11), taking home the best film prize in the feature competition as well as prize of the ecumenical jury.

Ayka, which is Dvortsevoy’s second feature, premiered in competition at Cannes earlier this year and is Kazakhstan’s entry for the best foreign- language film Oscar category. The Match Factory is handling international sales.

Russian films regularly garner the main prize in...

The early money might be on Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” (Mexico) and Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War” (Poland), but Asia appears to have a real shot at the Oscar foreign-language category, with a mixture of heavy-hitters and dark horses from an eclectic line-up.

The continent’s frontrunner is easily Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Palme d’Or winner “Shoplifters.” The film follows a family of petty thieves and the repercussions that ensue after they take in a waif. Moving, eloquent, and with an emphasis on the family unit, this is a film that could sway even the most cynical. The film will also benefit from its Magnolia Pictures’ release in the U.S.

From South Korea, Lee Chang-dong’s “Burning,” winner of the Fipresci Prize at Cannes, is mesmerising. Beginning as a frustrated youth drama, it gradually moves into missing-person thriller territory, culminating in a cathartic finale. The film is...

The Middle East premiere of U.S. director Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” will open the revamped Cairo Film Festival, where Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” is also set to launch in the region and Ralph Fiennes will be feted with a career award.

Cairo’s upcoming 40th edition, which will run Nov. 20-29, bears the stamp of a big push by its new president, Egyptian producer Mohammed Hefzy, to give the oldest film fest in the region new luster following a period of decline partly due to the country’s post-revolution turbulence.

Hefzy and artistic director Youssef Cheriff Rizkallah have unveiled a large lineup mixing recent standout titles plucked from the international circuit with a rich assortment of fresh Arabic fare.

Kazakh writer-director Sergey Dvortsevoy and actress Samal Yeslyamova will be coming to Cairo for a gala screening of drama “Ayka,” which competed in Cannes; Argentine director will be making...