The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the Best Foreign Language Film nominations last week and two films from our Sister Cities’ countries made the final cut.El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth) from Mexico and Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) from Germany made it to the final group of five films. The winner will be announced Feb. 25 at the 79th Academy Awards.
El laberinto del fauno is playing at multiple theaters throughout the Metroplex, but Das Leben der Anderen hasn’t made it to our area yet. It’s slated for release in the United States in early February. You can track its release or watch the film’s trailer at http://movies.aol.com/movie/the-lives-of-others/26624/main. There’s a really cool official web site for El laberinto. Check it out at http://www.panslabyrinth.com/.
Each year countries may select one film to represent their film industry – a complicated and often controversial process. Can you imagine if the United States had to pick one film to represent the entire country in an international competition? Talk about politics and matters of taste.
As for the films from our other Sister City countries? Fehér Tenyér (White Palms) from Hungary; Berbagi suami (Love for Share) from Indonesia; Nuovomondo (The Golden Door) from Italy; and Hula gâru (Hula Girls) from Japan were the official entries from their countries. Swaziland had no entry.
4 comments:
Pan's Labyrinth has been described by many as a "fairy tale" for adults. In 1944, a small girl finds herself walking between two worlds - the first is the brutal reality of the Spanish Civil War - the second, a world of a faun, who promises her the throne of a princess if she can complete three tasks.
This is Guillermo Del Toro's masterpiece - a work of profound intelligence and imagination - a work that, through fairies and monsters, explores the spirit of independence, of free thought, of every human's right to choose - and the sacrifice that is sometimes necessary.
Del Toro's work has been a mix of "popcorn" fantasy (Mimic, Blade II, Hellboy) and deeply personal independent films (Cronos, The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth) that are inspired by his passion for art, literature, comic books, and fairy tales. He is a man that believes in creating "art for art's sake" - he gave up his salary to finish Pan's Labryinth - and his passion along with his generosity to his fanbase is garnering him quite a following. I hope you enjoy Pan's Labyrinth - it is a magnificent achievement.
Thanks for the info Parker.
For those who don't know, Parker is from Indiana and runs the www.deltorofilms.com website, a great site with all things del Toro. The site includes interviews, message boards and a lot of one-of-a-kind news.
There's also good info on the upcoming "Hellboy 2" movie.
Steve, this is great. What fun! ...and a lot of work. Do we give you suggestions of films we have seen?
Claudine
Thanks. We welcome comments about and suggestions for films from our seven sister cities.
They don't have to be recent or ones you saw in a theater.
Tell your friends.
Post a Comment