Why International Features Earn More Oscar Nominations Across All Categories and Why That Matters
variety.comStuart Miller A musical about crimes and identity; a searing drama about political and familial oppression; another about an activist searching for her missing husband; documentaries about sexual assault as told by the victim, about undoing centuries of imperialism and about Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank; and a beautiful and wordless animated film about animals cooperating to survive after a flood.
These movies — double Golden Globe winner “Emilia Pérez,” “Seed of the Sacred Fig,” “I’m Still Here,” “Black Box Diaries,” “Dahomey,” “No Other Land” and Globe winner “Flow” — have two things in common: They were all made overseas and they’re all generating legitimate Oscar buzz beyond the international feature film category.
Sure, some films and filmmakers have always broken through that barrier: Fellini, Truffaut, Bergman and some of their peers in Italy, France and Sweden earned directing and writing nominations, while actors like Sophia Loren and Liv Ullman got nods too. (In 1998, Fernanda Montenegro became the first Brazilian actress nominated for lead actress, for Walter Salles’ “Central Station”; while she has a cameo in Salles’ “I’m Still Here,” her daughter, Fernanda Torres, is in the lead actress race her starring role in the film.) Things shifted a bit at the start of the 21st century with “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and the rise of Pedro Almodóvar, whose films have earned nominations for score, screenplay and actors like Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.
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