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.
