02/10/2003

Spain has also made its decision on which film will represent the country in the competition for the 2004 Oscar for Best Foreign Film. After keeping their cards close to their chest throughout the selection process, the members of the Spanish Academy of Film Arts have chosen Soldiers of Salamina by David Trueba, inspired by the best selling book of the same name by Javier Cercas. This is the director’s third feature length film and it won the Golden Swan award at the with the Copenhagen International festival. It’s stars include Ariadna Gil, Ramon Fonsterè and Diego Luna, and the story is about a writer who carries out an investigation into one of the unresolved mysteries of the Spanish Civil War: the execution of a group of Franco supporting prisoners, whose members included the writer Rafael Sanchez Mazas, the founder of the Falange political party. Sanchez Mazas was brought out to face the firing squad but he miraculously managed to escape.

The news of the Spanish nomination was made public yesterday by the president of the Academy, Antonio Echavarrìa, though Trueba seemed to have a fatalist approach to the whole competition, when he told reporters “making a film is much more difficult than wining any type of prize”.
Now the attention moves to the Academy Awards in Hollywood, whose members have to choose the final shortlist of five candidates for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, by January 27, 2004. The first part of the selection process will be handled by 5,000 volunteers chosen by the Academy who have to watch the foreign language films and then vote for their favourites.

(Translated from Italian)