Foreign Oscar Short-List, BAFTAs, IFC Deals for Noé and Solondz, Berlinale Competition

The Academy announced the nine finalists in the Foreign Language Oscar category yesterday, which will be narrowed down to five once the Oscar nominations are announced on 2 February; 65 films were submitted for the category, which I listed a couple of months ago. Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band], from Germany, and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet [Un prophète], from France, made the final cut, as expected. Sony Pictures Classics has The White Ribbon in a limited release now, and A Prophet will expand on 26 February. Another SPC title, Juan José Campanella's The Secret in Their Eyes [El secreto de sus ojos] from Argentina, was also among the nine; Campanella was previously nominated for Son of the Bride. Rounding out the rest of the pack are Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani's Ajami from Israel (to be released by Kino this spring), Claudia Llosa's The Milk of Sorrow [La teta asustada] from Peru (which won the Golden Bear at the 2009 Berlinale), Warwick Thornton's Samson and Delilah from Australia, Martin Koolhoven's Winter in Wartime [Oorlogswinter] from The Netherlands, Stephan Komandarev's The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner from Bulgaria and Ermek Tursunov's Kelin from Kazakhstan. Campanella is the only previous nominee in this category (Haneke's Caché was disqualified from the running when Austria submitted it in 2005). Among the upsets, the omissions of Corneliu Porumboiu's Police, Adjective [Poliţist, adj.], from Romania, and Bong Joon-ho's Mother, from South Korea, were the biggest surprises. Xavier Dolan's I Killed My Mother [J'ai tué ma mère], from Canada, and Giuseppe Tornatore's Baarìa were also expected to make the list from the former's festival credentials and the latter director's previous Oscar win (thank God for no Tornatore is all I have to say).

In distribution news, IFC announced their acquisitions of both Gaspar Noé's Enter the Void and Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime. Both played at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, though Enter the Void made its official premiere, in an unfinished version, at Cannes in May. Life During Wartime will make its way onto screens in the U.S. over the summer, as well as on IFC's On Demand program. Enter the Void will bow sometime later this year.

The official line-up for the 2010 Berlinale Competition titles was unveiled yesterday, including films from Kôji Wakamatsu, Noah Baumbach, Nicole Holofcener, Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern, Zhang Yimou, Thomas Vinterberg, Lisa Cholodenko, Wang Quan’an and Michael Winterbottom. As usual David Hudson at The Auteurs Notebook has a fabulous round-up of the titles.

And finally, the BAFTA nominations were announced yesterday, with both Clint Eastwood's Invictus and Jane Campion's Bright Star left out of the race. Though even without Campion, two female directors made the cut this year, and three of the five nominees for British Film of the Year were also directed by women. Each year, the BAFTAs come closer and closer to mirroring the Oscars, so fingers crossed that the Academy follows suit with snubbing Lee Daniels, Nine and Sandra Bullock. Nominees below, full list at IndieWire:

Best Film

Avatar, d. James Cameron
An Education, d. Lone Scherfig
The Hurt Locker, d. Kathryn Bigelow
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, d. Lee Daniels
Up in the Air, d. Jason Reitman

Outstanding British Film

An Education, d. Lone Scherfig
Fish Tank, d. Andrea Arnold
In the Loop, d. Armando Iannucci
Moon, d. Duncan Jones
Nowhere Boy, d. Sam Taylor-Wood

Film Not in the English Language

Broken Embraces [Los abrazos rotos], d. Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
Coco Before Chanel [Coco avant Chanel], d. Anne Fontaine, France
Let the Right One In [Låt den rätte komma in], d. Tomas Alfredson, Sweden
A Prophet [Un prophète], d. Jacques Audiard, France
The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band], d. Michael Haneke, Austria/Germany/France/Italy

Animated Film

Coraline, d. Henry Selick
Fantastic Mr. Fox, d. Wes Anderson
Up, d. Pete Docter, Bob Peterson

Director

James Cameron, Avatar
Neill Blomkamp, District 9
Lone Schefig, An Education
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Leading Actor

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Andy Serkis, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

Leading Actress

Carey Mulligan, An Education
Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Audrey Tautou, Coco avant Chanel

Supporting Actor

Alec Baldwin, It’s Complicated
Christian Mckay, Me and Orson Welles
Alfred Molina, An Education
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Supporting Actress

Anne-Marie Duff, Nowhere Boy
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’nique, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Kristin Scott Thomas, Nowhere Boy

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson, Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock, David Pearson - Mugabe and the White African
Eran Creevy - Shifty Stuart
Hazeldine - Exam
Duncan Jones - Moon
Sam Taylor-Wood - Nowhere Boy

Original Screenplay

The Hangover - Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
The Hurt Locker - Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino
A Serious Man - Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Up - Bob Peterson, Pete Docter

Adapted Screenplay

District 9 - Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
An Education - Nick Hornby
In the Loop - Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire - Geoffrey Fletcher
Up in the Air - Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

Cinematography

Barry Ackroyd, The Hurt Locker
Javier Aguirresarobe, The Road
Mauro Fiore, Avatar
Trent Opaloch, District 9
Robert Richardson, Inglourious Basterds