As per usual, Cannes favorites are dominating this year’s Foreign Oscar picks. Italy has picked the crime-mafia film, “Gomorrah,”to represent their cinema, Turkey has selected “Three Monkeys” to epitomize the best of their films, and Israel has chosen the lauded and animated Beirut war reminiscence, “Waltz With Bashir,” to stand for their country, which also has a shot at getting a nomination for Best Animated Picture as well says Variety (man, that would be great to see something that’s not a kid’s film get nominated in this category for once).
All three films were critical sensations at Cannes, with “Gomorrah,” and “Three Monkeys” taking home big prizes (Best Director – Nuri Bilge Ceylan – for ‘Monkeys’ and ‘Gomorrah’ took the Grand Prix which is like the runner up prize for the Palme d’Or). Another Italian film lauded at Cannes, “Il Divo” was shut out of the running byMatteo Garrone’s crime film, but it won the Jury prize at Cannes. Alas, each country only gets one pick.
We’ve seen ‘Bashir‘ and ‘Gomorrah,’ both of which are great, but we’re still dying to see “Three Monkeys.” If anyone’s got press info on that one, send it our way, please. Note, just because a country selects a film doesn’t mean it’s nominated for a Best Foreign Oscar. Basically every country submits what they believe is their strongest pick (the deadline this year is Oct 1), than a pre-Oscar comittee whitsles that number down to nine pictures and then that number gets cut to 5 come Oscar nomination time in February. France has already submitted the Cannes top-prize winner, “The Class” as their official Foreign Best Oscar entry.
The “Gommorah” (via Fataculture) and the “Three Monkeys” trailers are below. “The Waltz With Bashir” trailer we posted earlier this week.
