Arcand film among 9 in running for foreign film Oscar
Quebec director Denys Arcand’s latest film, L’¬ge des tÈnËbres, has moved a step closer to an Oscar nomination after being chosen as one of nine foreign films left in the running for the best foreign-language film Academy Award.
The film, whose English title is Days of Darkness, is the story of an unhappy civil servant who deals with his mundane life by escaping into vivid, glamorous dream worlds. It was chosen as Canada’s entry to the Academy Awards.
Arcand describes it as the lightest and most humorous film of his trilogy, which began with the Decline of the American Empire and included Oscar winner The Barbarian Invasions.
The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released a list Tuesday of nine films left in the running for the best foreign-language film Oscar after whittling down the initial list from 63.
It will announce its five official nominees on Jan. 22.
The other films in contention:
– The Counterfeiters (Austria), directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, a Second World War story about a Jewish counterfeiter dragged into a German plan to destabilize the British economy with counterfeit bank notes.
– The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (Brazil), directed by Cao Hamburger, about a young boy stranded without his family in 1970s Brazil.
– Beaufort (Israel), directed by Joseph Cedar, the story of a group of Israeli soldiers stationed at a remote outpost.
– The Unknown (Italy), directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, about a young Ukranian woman with a troubled past who takes a job as a housekeeper for an Italian family.
– Mongol (Kazakhstan), directed by Sergei Bodrov, about the early life of Gengis Khan, who was a slave before he conquered half the world.
– Katyn (Poland), directed by Andrzej Wajda, about post-war Polish deaths at Russian hands.
– 12 (Russia), directed by Nikita Mikhalkov, a remake of Twelve Angry Men in a trial involving a Chechen boy accused of murder.
– The Trap (Serbia), directed by Srdjan Golubovic, a crime thriller set in contemporary Belgrade.
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