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OSCARS 2012 Portugal

José and Pilar to try its luck in Hollywood

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Miguel Gonçalves Mendes’s documentary José and Pilar [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
has been selected to represent Portugal in the nomination race for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. This was announced last Friday by the Film and Audiovisual Institute (ICA). So far, Portugal has never had its film entry picked as one of the final five nominees for the coveted award.

This co-production between Portugal (JumpCut), Spain (El Deseo) and Brazil (O2 Filmes) centres on the shared life of Portuguese writer and Nobel Literature Prize winner José Saramago and his wife, Spanish journalist Pilar del Río. Saramago, a controversial figure on the Iberian cultural scene and a professed defender of the political union between both countries, died in June 2010.

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José and Pilar was released in Portugal on November 18, 2010, drew over 25,000 viewers and has so far amassed €95,787 in takings. The film’s success also triggered an unprecedented event: a petition addressed to the ICA circulated on the Internet, asking for the documentary to be Portugal’s entry for the Oscars. In recent weeks, after the death of filmmaker Raúl Ruiz, some people suggested that the Oscar entry could be the Chilean director’s swan song: Mysteries of Lisbon [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. However, in the end the ICA opted for Gonçalves Mendes’s documentary.

Besides Portugal, José and Pilar was also released in Spain and Brazil. Its US release, through the distributor Outside Pictures, is slated for April 2012.

The Oscar nominations will be announced on January 24, 2012. The awards ceremony will take place on February 26 in Los Angeles.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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