Source
October 4, 2004 -- 'THE Motorcycle Diaries" and "Look at Me" re ceived glowing re views from critics — yet these popular for eign films, among oth ers, won't be eligible for the foreign-language Oscar at this year's Academy Awards.
Because of politics and the Motion Picture Academy's arcane rules, Pedro Almodovar's "Bad Education" from Spain, Jean-Pierre Annaud's "A Very Long Engagement" and Agnes Jaoui's "Look at Me" (both from France) and Walter Salles' South American "The Motorcycle Diaries" all failed to secure nominations — even though each director has had previously helmed films nominated for Best Foreign Language feature.
Every country designates a group that presents a single film to the Academy, which has special committees that winnow submissions down to the five nominees announced in January.
Spain, the last country to make its pick on Friday, passed over the acclaimed thriller "Bad Education" in favor of "The Sea Within," a true story about a paraplegic's campaign for assisted suicide.
While Javier Bardem, the star of "The Sea Within," is considered a leading candidate for the Best Actor Oscar (he was previously nominated for "Before Night Falls"), the snub of Almodovar is widely viewed as a response to the director's criticism of Spain's nominators for not submitting his last film, "Talk to Her," which won him the Oscar for Best Screenplay and a nomination for Best Director.
Almodovar, the most popular non-English language director in the U.S. and much of the world, won the Best Foreign Language Picture for "All About My Mother" in 2000.
"Bad Education" stars Mexico's Gael Garcia Bernal, who is considered a strong contender for Best Actor for that film and for "The Motorcycle Diaries," in which he plays the young Argentinan revolutionary Che Guevara.
Though "Diaries" director Salles helmed "Central Station," a Brazilian film that achieved a 1997 Oscar nomination, his latest, which is in Spanish, doesn't qualify because it was shot in not one but several South American countries, largely with U.S. funding.
Jean-Pierre Jenuet, the director of the comedy "A Very Long Engagement," received five Oscar nominations — including Best Foreign Language Picture — in 2001 — for the very popular "Amelie."
But his new picture doesn't qualify because it failed to meet the Sept. 15 deadline for an opening in its country of origin, and distributor Warner Independent Pictures has been pushing it for other categories.
Local politics seems to have felled another French contender, Agnes Jaoui's "Look at Me," which received glowing reviews when it opened the Cannes Film Festival and swept that country's Oscars.
Jaoui's last film, "The Taste of Others," scored an Oscar nomination in 2000, but France snubbed her latest effort in favor of "Les Choristes," a musical heart-tugger directed by the little-known Christophe Barratie.
October 4, 2004 -- 'THE Motorcycle Diaries" and "Look at Me" re ceived glowing re views from critics — yet these popular for eign films, among oth ers, won't be eligible for the foreign-language Oscar at this year's Academy Awards.
Because of politics and the Motion Picture Academy's arcane rules, Pedro Almodovar's "Bad Education" from Spain, Jean-Pierre Annaud's "A Very Long Engagement" and Agnes Jaoui's "Look at Me" (both from France) and Walter Salles' South American "The Motorcycle Diaries" all failed to secure nominations — even though each director has had previously helmed films nominated for Best Foreign Language feature.
Every country designates a group that presents a single film to the Academy, which has special committees that winnow submissions down to the five nominees announced in January.
Spain, the last country to make its pick on Friday, passed over the acclaimed thriller "Bad Education" in favor of "The Sea Within," a true story about a paraplegic's campaign for assisted suicide.
While Javier Bardem, the star of "The Sea Within," is considered a leading candidate for the Best Actor Oscar (he was previously nominated for "Before Night Falls"), the snub of Almodovar is widely viewed as a response to the director's criticism of Spain's nominators for not submitting his last film, "Talk to Her," which won him the Oscar for Best Screenplay and a nomination for Best Director.
Almodovar, the most popular non-English language director in the U.S. and much of the world, won the Best Foreign Language Picture for "All About My Mother" in 2000.
"Bad Education" stars Mexico's Gael Garcia Bernal, who is considered a strong contender for Best Actor for that film and for "The Motorcycle Diaries," in which he plays the young Argentinan revolutionary Che Guevara.
Though "Diaries" director Salles helmed "Central Station," a Brazilian film that achieved a 1997 Oscar nomination, his latest, which is in Spanish, doesn't qualify because it was shot in not one but several South American countries, largely with U.S. funding.
Jean-Pierre Jenuet, the director of the comedy "A Very Long Engagement," received five Oscar nominations — including Best Foreign Language Picture — in 2001 — for the very popular "Amelie."
But his new picture doesn't qualify because it failed to meet the Sept. 15 deadline for an opening in its country of origin, and distributor Warner Independent Pictures has been pushing it for other categories.
Local politics seems to have felled another French contender, Agnes Jaoui's "Look at Me," which received glowing reviews when it opened the Cannes Film Festival and swept that country's Oscars.
Jaoui's last film, "The Taste of Others," scored an Oscar nomination in 2000, but France snubbed her latest effort in favor of "Les Choristes," a musical heart-tugger directed by the little-known Christophe Barratie.
