“Beaufort,” the Israeli indie film about the last military outpost to leave Lebanon is one step closer to an Oscar nomination. Ah, the sweet smell of success after an altercation with The Band’s Visit over who would represent Israel as its official submission may have soured some relations.
The official academy release:
Beverly Hills, CA: Nine films will advance to the next round of voting in
the Foreign Language Film category for the 80th Academy Awards®. Sixty-three
films had originally qualified in the category.
The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Austria, The Counterfeiters, Stefan Ruzowitzky, director
Brazil, The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, Cao
Hamburger, director
Canada, Days of Darkness, Denys Arcand, director
Israel, Beaufort, Joseph Cedar, director
Italy, The Unknown, Giuseppe Tornatore, director
Kazakhstan, Mongol, Sergei Bodrov, director
Poland, Katyn, Andrzej Wajda, director
Russia, 12, Nikita Mikhalkov, director
Serbia, The Trap, Srdan Golubovic, director
Foreign Language Film nominations for 2007 are being determined in two
phases.
The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based
members, screened the 63 eligible films and their ballots determined the
above shortlist.
A Phase II committee, made up of ten randomly selected members from the
Phase I group, joined by specially invited ten-member contingents in New
York and Los Angeles, will view the shortlisted films and select the five
nominees for the category.
