As If I’m Not There Oscar bound

by Naman Ramachandran

22/09/2011 - The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) has nominated Juanita Wilson’s Serbo-Croatian film As If I’m Not There [trailer] as Ireland’s official entry for the Oscars in the Foreign Language category.

The film won Best Film, Best Director and Best Script at the IFTA awards earlier this year, and was nominated in a further five categories. Wilson was previously nominated for an Academy Award in 2010 for her live action short film The Door.

Wilson said, “It’s great to have my work recognised in this way and a tribute to my team.”

IFTA Chief Executive Áine Moriarty said, “IFTA is delighted to announce Ireland’s 2012 Foreign Language entry for the 84th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. This film will be such a strong contender this year for Ireland in this Oscar category, representing the very best of Irish creative talent.”

Producer James Flynn said, “We’d like to our extend our sincere thanks to the Irish Film Board for backing the project from inception and to congratulate our entire cast and crew including Natasha Petrovic, Tim Fleming (DoP), Nathan Nugent (Editor) and our producers Nathalie Lichtenthaeler, Karen Richards, Lena Rehnberg and Vladimir Anastasov. Special mention to Slavenka Drakulic who wrote the wonderful book, which inspired this film.”

As If I Am Not There represents Ireland’s second submission for the US Academy’s Foreign Language Film category following Tom Collins’ Irish-language drama Kings, which was chosen for consideration in 2009.