Ethiopian Film Competes for the Oscars

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GoldDerby.com: Movies from 65 nations will compete for best foreign film at the Oscars, including entries from Ethiopia and Greenland, which are new to the race.

The rundown just issued by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be whittled down to a short list of nine titles after they are screened and scored by academy members, who are divided into four color-coded teams (white, green, blue and red) that each view 16 movies between Friday and Jan. 13. The teams will select at least six titles. An academy review committee has the authority to add up to three more movies to complete a short list of nine to be announced in January. Then the semi-finalists are viewed and scored one more time by select academy members who decide the five nominees to be unveiled on Jan. 25. Only academy members who attend screenings of all five nominees may vote for the winner to be announced on Feb. 27.

There are two initial standouts, both of which recently won prizes at the Cannes Film Festival: Palme d’Or champ “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” (Thailand) and “Biutiful” (Mexico) starring best actor victor Javier Bardem. “Biutiful” is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose “Amores Perros” was nominated for best foreign film of 2000 and whose “Babel” was up for best picture of 2006. However, Cannes champs are often cursed at the Oscars.

Other films considered to be strong candidates for the short list include “Bal (Honey)” (Turkey), “Dogtooth” (Greece), “In a Better World” (Denmark), “Incendies” (Canada), “Kawasaki’s Rose” (Czech Republic), “Life, Above All” (South Africa), “Of Gods and Men” (France), “Outside the Law” (Algeria) and “Son of Babylon” (Iraq).

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