OSCARS 2007 Nominations
Eight European titles shorlisted
by Vitor Pinto
17/01/2007 - This year, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to divide the selection of the nominees for the Best Foreign Language Film category into two phases.
After the initial qualification of sixty-one titles, the shortlist of films has just been announced and eight out of its nine contenders are European productions or co-productions. The top winners of the European Film Awards, back in December 2006 (see news), are part of this list: Pedro Almodóvar's Volver [trailer, film focus] for Spain (see Focus) and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others [trailer, film focus] for Germany (see Focus).
Other titles are Paul Verhoeven's Black Book [trailer] for the Netherlands, Fredi M. Murer's Vitus [trailer, film focus] for Switzerland (see focus), Susanne Bier's After the Wedding [trailer, film focus] for Denmark (see Focus), Daniele Thompson's Avenue Montaigne for France.
Rachid Bouchareb's Algerian film Days of Glory [trailer, film focus] (see focus) and Guillermo del Toro's Mexican title Pan’s Labyrinth [trailer] were furthermore co-produced by France and Spain, respectively. The ninth title is the Canadian-Indian film Water by Deepa Mehta.
These nine films will next be viewed by 20 members of the Academy, who will then select the final five nominees of 2006. The screenings will take place in Hollywood and New York from January 19-21 and the nominations for the 79th Academy Awards will be announced on January 23. The ceremony will take place on February 25 in Los Angeles.
