International Oscar Race: Hillary and Chelsea Clinton-Produced Doc ‘In the Shadow of Beirut’ to Represent Ireland
The Irish Film and Television Academy has selected Lebanon-set, primarily Arabic-language feature documentary “In the Shadow of Beirut,” executive produced by Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Siobhan Sinnerton for HiddenLight Productions, as its entry to the best international feature film section of the Academy Awards.
The film is a cinematic portrait of modern-day Lebanon as seen through the eyes of four families living in the impoverished Sabra and Shatila neighbourhoods of the city, the scene of an infamous massacre in 1982. It filmed over four years with unique access to the families within these largely restricted areas and is co-directed by Stephen Gerard Kelly, in his debut, and Garry Keane (Sundance selection “Gaza,” 2019).
It was selected by IFTA’s 2023 selection committee, including filmmaker Jim Sheridan (“My Left Foot”), producer Brian Falconer (“Derry Girls”), actor Cathy Belton (“Philomena”), writer-director Frank Berry (“Michael Inside”) and media executive Muirne Laffan.
The film premiered at New Zealand’s Doc Edge Festival where it won several awards.
IFTA Academy CEO, Áine Moriarty said: “This is such an important film for a global audience to connect with. This raw storytelling on screen is delivered with such heart-breaking honesty. Stephen has been trusted to bring us up close and personal into the lives of these families, who are full of love as they try to live and survive, with the question of hope and human resilience at its core.”
Ireland has been submitting to the category since 2007. “Viva” was shortlisted in 2015 and last year “The Quiet Girl” scored a nomination. It has yet to win the category.
Dir: Stephen Gerard Kelly, Garry Keane
Malaysia: “Tiger Stripes”
“Tiger Stripes,” a film that is partly a girl’s coming-of-age drama and partly a body horror picture, has been selected to represent Malaysia in the best international feature film section of the Academy Awards.
The film had its debut in the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes film festival in May and was directed by first-time feature filmmaker Amanda Nell Eu.
The announcement was made on Thursday by Malaysia’s Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil following selection by the National Film Development Corporation (FINAS).
The film was a eight-way coproduction involving companies from Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Indonesia and Qatar, and emerged from a succession of labs, project markets and international funds.
Since winning the Grand Prix at the Critics’ Week, “Tiger Stripes” has been a popular choice on the festival circuit, with stops so far at Neufchatel, The Hamptons, Sitges, London, Fantasia, Taipei and next week’s Pingyao events.
Dir. Amanda Nell Eu. International sales: Films Boutique.
All submissions and materials for the 2023 race must be received by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences by 5 p.m. on Oct. 2. And films must meet all the qualifying conditions between Dec. 1, 2022, and Oct. 31, 2023. A shortlist of 15 will be announced on Dec. 21. Final nominees will be announced on Jan. 23, 2024. The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024.
Argentina: “The Delinquents“
Argentina, the South American country with the best Academy Awards history, has chosen as its Academy Awards submission “The Delinquents,” Rodrigo Moreno’s incorrigibly playful heist movie, which world premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard, delighting critics.
Moreno first caught attention with 2006’s “The Custodian,” which won an Alfred Bauer Prize for innovation at the Berlinale, turning on a bodyguard who is nearly invisible to his government minister client, until he snaps.
“The Delinquents’” rebellion against workplace invisibility and deadening routine is far more fun, comes far earlier and, as a Variety review notes, is echoed in the film’s equal abandonment of convention.
In it, a bank worker, Morán, steals wads of cash from his bank, in full view of a camera, persuading a similarly anonymous co-worker to hide the loot while he serves time.
“A deliciously bizarre existential heist movie,” Variety wrote in its review, “The Delinquents” appeal was noted before Cannes when Magnolia Pictures International alighted on world sales. After the premiere, MUBI moved smartly to take rights in North America, U.K., Italy, Latin America, Turkey, India and Benelux.
“The Delinquents” is produced by Ezequiel Borovinsky of Wanka Cine (Argentina) and co-produced by Les Films Fauves (Luxembourg), Sancho&Punta (Brazil), Jirafa Films (Chile), Jaque (Argentina) and Rizoma (Argentina).
Dir: Rodrigo Moreno Sales: Magnolia Pictures International
Philippines: “The Missing”
The Philippines has selected animated drama film “The Missing” (aka “Iti Mapukpukaw”) as its contender for the Academy Awards best international feature.
The film tells the story of a gay animator who strangely does not have a mouth called on by his family to check up on a missing uncle. After he discovers that the uncle is already dead the young man encounters a strangely familiar alien who helps him untangle his memories and his feelings.
Directed by Carl Joseph E. Papa, who has previously made “The Unforgetting” and “Paglisan,” “The Missing” debuted at the Cinemalaya festival in August. There, Papa won the Balanghai Trophy for making the best film and “Triangle of Sadness” star Dolly de Leon, who features in the film’s voice cast, was nominated as best supporting actress.
The production received funding from the Cinemalaya Foundation, a trio of government agencies in the Philippines and from Thai financier Purin Pictures.
Dir: Carl Joseph E. Papa
Mexico: “Totem”
Mexico has selected “Totem,” written and directed by Lila Avilés (“The Chambermaid”) as the country’s candidate for best international feature at the Academy Awards.
The film follows seven-year-old Sol who spends the day at her grandfather’s home, helping her aunts Nuri and Alejandra with the preparations for a surprise party they are throwing for her father, Tonatiuh. As daylight fades, a strange and chaotic atmosphere takes over, shattering the bonds that hold the family together.
“It gives us a chance to reflect on mortality and the way we struggle to understand and accept it,” Variety critic Peter Debruge said in his review of the film.
“Totem” bowed at Berlin where it won the Ecumenical Jury Prize. It has played Telluride and New Directors/New Films and will next play at the BFI London Film Festival and San Sebastian Film Festival. It has won several more awards, including at the Bucharest, Melbourne, Hong Kong and Jerusalem film festivals.
The film is produced by Tatiana Graullera, Lila Avilés and Louise Riousse. It introduces the young actor Naíma Sentíes in her first role and also stars Montserrat Marañon, Marisol Gasê, Saori Gurza, Mateo García Elizondo, Teresita Sánchez, Francisco Maldonado, Iazua Larios and Alberto Amador.
Sideshow and Janus Films will release the film theatrically in the U.S. following fall festivals.
Dir: Lila Avilés Sales: Alpha Violet
Jordan: “Inshallah a Boy”
Jordan has selected Amjad Al-Rasheed’s drama “Inshallah a Boy,” which explores the Arab world’s archaic patriarchal inheritance laws, as its entry in the Academy Awards’ best international feature category.
In the Jordan-set film, Nawal (Mouna Hawa) finds out after her husband’s sudden death that since she “only” gave birth to a daughter, according to local inheritance law his family might be entitled to everything she owns, including her home. Out of options, she pretends to be pregnant again.
Nawal’s story was inspired by Al Rasheed’s own relative, who found herself in a very similar predicament after having dedicated her whole life to her family.
“Inshallah a Boy,” which is Al-Rasheed’s feature film debut, is the first film from Jordan to launch from the Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered in the Cannes’ Critics Week.
The film was produced by Rula Nasser and Aseel Abu Ayyash for Imaginarium Film, co-produced by Nicolas Lepretre and Raphaël Alexandre for Georges Film and Yousef Abed Alnabi for Bayt Al Shawareb.
Greenwich Entertainment took North American distribution rights to the film ahead of its North American premiere at TIFF earlier this month.
Dir. Amjad Al-Rasheed Intl. Sales: Pyramide International
Singapore: “The Breaking Ice”
Singaporean director Anthony Chen’s “The Breaking Ice” has been selected by the Singapore Film Commission as the country’s entry to the 96th Academy Awards in 2024, in the international film category.
Filmed in China, film follows the blossoming friendship of its three main characters as they discover warmth in their shared isolation over a weekend in the winter snow. It stars Chinese actors Zhou Dongyu (the Oscar-nominated “Better Days”), Liu Haoran (the “Detective Chinatown” franchise) and Qu Chuxiao (“The Wandering Earth”).
“The Breaking Ice” bowed earlier this year at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard strand.
This is the third time a film directed by Chen is representing Singapore at the Oscars after Cannes Camera d’Or award winner “Ilo Ilo” and “Wet Season.” Last year, “Ajoomma,” the first-ever Singapore-Korea co-production, directed by He Shuming and produced by Chen was submitted as Singapore’s entry.
The film is being distributed in North America by Strand Releasing with international sales handled by Rediance. Chen wrote and directed the film and produced it with Meng Xie under their Canopy Pictures banner. The film was released in cinemas in Singapore earlier this month via Golden Village Pictures and is currently still showing in cinemas in mainland China where it opened in August.
Justin Ang, assistant chief executive of media, innovation, communications and marketing, at Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority, said: “We are absolutely thrilled by the selection of Anthony Chen’s film, ‘The Breaking Ice,’ as Singapore’s entry for 2024’s Oscars. Together with other made-with-Singapore premieres winning awards at the Cannes Film Festival this year, films such as ‘The Breaking Ice’ put Singapore on the global filmmaking map. With the Singapore Film Commission commemorating 25 years of dedication in nurturing our vibrant local film industry, we are truly proud of our passionate homegrown talent who have found recognition on the world stage. We look forward to hearing good news at the 2024’s Oscars.”
Chen added: “It is an honor once again to be selected as Singapore’s Oscar submission and also even more meaningful in a year when I have been invited into The Academy. This film wouldn’t have been possible without the creative talents and passion of our very international team. I look forward to sharing this film with audiences in the States and around the world.”
Dir: Anthony Chen. Sales: Rediance
Venezuela: “The Shadow of the Sun” (“La Sombra del Sol”)
Venezuela has selected sibling drama “La Sombra del Sol” by LA-based Venezuelan filmmaker Miguel Ángel Ferrer as its official entry to the 96th Academy Awards’ Best International Film category.
Ferrer’s feature debut was selected by Venezuela’s National Association of Cinematographic Authors (ANAC) over other contenders, citing “its performances as well as the cultural imagery it represents.” “It is a film about characters that narrates a Venezuelan context that invites one to dream while maintaining a very unique tone of magical realism,” it added.
Set in rural Venezuela, it turns on Alex, a young deaf teen who asks his estranged older brother Leo to join him in a talent contest that could change their lives. Leo will dust off his long dormant musical skills to be his younger brother’s voice.
“We want to express our thanks to the Oscar commission for choosing our film, which is about the story of Leo and Alex, two brothers who represent the struggle for a seemingly unattainable dream. Like them, this is another step in our journey. ‘La Sombra del Sol’ is a film from Venezuela, for Venezuela, and for the world, filmed with local talent in the beautiful town of Acarigua, in the state of Portuguesa,” said Ferrer.
“La Sombra del Sol” will have a limited release on Oct. 5 in Caracas at the Centro Cultural Trasnocho and in December in the rest of the country. Currently, the film is on a festival circuit run following its world premiere at the Los Angeles Latino Int’l Film Festival and winning five awards, including the Press Award for Best Feature, at the Venezuelan Film Festival in Mérida. It is next screening in Mexico’s Monterrey International Film Festival and the AFI Silverscreen in Washington DC, among other events.
Dir: Miguel Ángel Ferrer. Venezuelan Distributor: MundoDPelícula
North Macedonia: “Housekeeping for Beginners”
“Housekeeping for Beginners,” Goran Stolevski’s drama which won the Queer Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, has been selected by North Macedonia as its official Oscar entry for international feature film race.
Focus is distributing the film in the U.S. with Universal Pictures handling international distribution (excluding Eastern Europe). “Housekeeping for Beginners” reteams Focus Features with the critically acclaimed Macedonian-Australian director following “You Won’t Be Alone,” which premiered at Sundance in 2022 and represented Australia in the Oscar race, and “Of an Age,” which kicked off Melbourne festival.
“Housekeeping for Beginners” stars Anamaria Marinca (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”) as Dita, a queer woman who never wanted to be a mother and finds herself forced to her to raise her girlfriend’s two rebellious daughters, Mia and Vanesa. A battle of wills ensues as the three continue to butt heads and become an unlikely family that must fight to stay together. The cast is completed by Alina Serban, Samson Selim, Vladimir Tintor, Mia Mustafa, Dzada Selim, Sara Klimoska, Rozafë Çelaj, Ajse Useini.
Represented in international markets by New Europe Film Sales, “Housekeeping for Beginners” was produced by List Production, Madants, Kinorama, Sense Production and Industria Film. Marinca stars opposite Alina Serban, Samson Selim, Vladimir Tintor, Mia Mustafa, Dzada Selim, Sara Klimoska, Rozafë Çelaj and Ajse Useini. Film I Väst, CommonGround Pictures and Causeway Films co-produced, in association with Tango, New Europe Film Sales and the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund.
Dir. Goran Stolevski. Intl. Sales: Film Europe
Sudan: “Goodbye Julia”
Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia” has been selected by Sudan to be its second-ever submission in the best international feature category of the Academy Awards.
This timely morality tale that takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan was the first Sudanese film ever to screen in Cannes where it won the Un Certain Regard section’s Prix de Liberté (Freedom Prize) and scored a raft of sales following its launch.
“Goodbye Julia” is the story of two women — one from the North, the other from the South — who are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities in the currently war-ravaged country.
In her Variety review of “Goodbye Julia” critic Jessica Kiang praised the film for being much more than “a primer for the class, ethnic and religious unrest that besets the troubled state” of Sudan, noting that “what actually transpires is far more engaging, in the vein of Asghar Farhadi, wherein a tight, high-concept moral core unravels into strands of widening, deepening social consequence.
The film is produced by Amjad Abu Alala, creator of Station Films and director of “You Will Die at Twenty,” which won Venice Film Festival’s Lion of the Future award for best first feature in 2019. It is co-produced by Ali Alarabi, the founder and CEO of Egyptian-American production company Ambient Light Films. “Goodbye Julia” is represented in North America by CAA Media Finance while sales outside of North America are being handled by pan-Arab outfit Mad Solutions.
“I feel very grateful that the committee in Sudan reactivated and selected ‘Goodbye Julia’ for the Oscars race despite the war,” said in a statement Kordofani, who besides directing the film is also one of its producers. “This only shows how resilient and hopeful people in Sudan can be. I feel immensely honored that my film is now on the list of Sudan’s submissions to the Academy and I hope we can be visible to voters so that -maybe- we can be visible to the world and show a different side of Sudan.”