Oscars 2021: the surprise of three African films in the list of shortlisted films
Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia), Anthony Nti (Belgium / Ghana) and Philippe Lacôte (Ivory Coast) remain in the running for the 2021 Oscars. © Siegfried Forster / RFI
Text by: Siegfried Forster Follow
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Deux, by Filippo Meneghetti, will represent France.
The Tunisian film The Man Who Sold His Skin by Kaouther Ben Hania and the Ivorian feature film La nuit des rois by Philippe Lacôte were also selected in the list of 15 shortlisted films for Best International Film.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the Cannes Film Festival seems to have lost its influence at the Oscars, to the benefit of the Venice Film Festival and Netflix.
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The list of shortlisted films was published Tuesday evening February 9 on the Academy Awards website.
Among the 15 films selected for the Best International Film category, there are no less than five films scheduled for the Venice International Film Festival 2020!
The Mostra is thus greatly strengthened in its role of prescriber for the most important cinema prizes worldwide.
The Cannes Film Festival, whose on-site competition was canceled and replaced by a
“Cannes 2020” label
awarded to 56 films, must be satisfied with a single Oscar-shortlisted film,
Drunk
, by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg.
Even the film sent by France,
Deux
, by Filippo Meneghetti, the passionate love story of two retirees, was not found among the 21 French feature films labeled "Cannes 2020".
► To read also:
The new digital frontiers of the Cannes Film Festival 2020
Even Netflix is doing better, with two feature films in the Best Foreign Film category:
I'm no longer here
, by Mexican Fernando Frias, featuring a bunch of teenage cumbia music fans, and Taiwanese drama
A Sun, by Mong -Hong Chung
.
The Oscars 2021, when the Mostra and Netflix double the Cannes Film Festival
Pressured by the meteoric rise of platforms and the closure of cinemas, the Cannes Film Festival (which has already postponed its 2021 edition to July) seems to have lost its rank since the start of the crisis caused by the coronavirus.
It should be remembered that last year,
Parasite
, the Palme d'Or of the Cannes Film Festival, achieved a historic feat by winning at the Oscars not only the trophy for Best foreign film, but also that for Best film.
► To read also:
The "miracle" of the Venice Film Festival 2020: very good films and hope
Since the advent of the pandemic, at the level of film festivals, the Venice Film Festival seems to have reversed the balance of power.
Among the 19 films selected for the Mostra in September 2020, five are among the 15 remaining candidates for Best International Film at the Oscars and another is well positioned for Best Documentary Film,
Nocturne
, by Francesco Rosi.
Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia) and Philippe Lacôte (Ivory Coast)
The man who sold his skin
,
Tunisian Kaouther Ben Hani
a, whose actor Yahya Mahayni won the prize for Best Male Interpretation in Venice, is also in the home stretch for the Oscars.
This is also the case for
La nuit des rois
(Côte d'Ivoire),
Philippe Lacôt
e, a breathtaking production with innovative and ambitious cinematographic writing to tell an insane story set in one of the most overcrowded prisons in West Africa, Maca.
Quo Vadis, Aïda?
, by Jasmila Zbanic, left empty-handed from the Mostra 2020, represents Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The Children of the Sun
, a film by Majid Majidi, whose street child turned actor, Rouhollah Zamani, crowned in Venice by the Marcello Mastroianni Prize for best young performer, was also selected on the list.
The members of the prestigious Academy of Oscars haven't forgotten
Dear Comrades either!
.
At the Mostra, Russian Andrei Kontchalovsky won the Special Jury Prize.
But the big surprise remains the absence of the 2020 Golden Lion,
Nomadland
, of Chinese-American director Chloe Zhao, long considered a big favorite for the Oscars.
► To read also:
"Da Yie", by Anthony Nti, "a foreigner in Ghana"
Among the 174 films qualified for the Best Short Film category, ten were selected, including
The Human Voice,
by Pedro Almodovar, also presented in Venice, but also
Da Yie
, directed by
Belgian director Anthony Nti, born in Ghana
and winner. of the International Grand Prix of the 2020 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival for his strange story of a stranger in his native country.
Following the pandemic, the American Academy of Sciences and Cinema Arts has chosen to include not ten, but fifteen feature films in its preselection for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
The next step will take place on March 15: only five films will then be selected for the final list before the Oscars are awarded on April 25.
► To read also: Cinema: the nominations for the Caesars disturbed by the custody of the president of the CNC
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