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OSCARS: Foreign Shockers From Spain, Italy

By PETE HAMMOND | Thursday September 29, 2011 @ 3:10am PDTTags: Antonio Banderas, Italy, Pedro Almodovar, Spain, The Skin I Live In
Pete Hammond

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve just learned that Oscar’s ever-growing Foreign-Language Film lineup has received shockers from Spain and Italy. Spain didn’t select the presumed favorite, two-time Oscar winner Pedro Almodovar with his The Skin I Live In starring frequent Almodovar collaborator Antonio Banderas. Instead, Spain chose the more obscure Pa Negre (Black Bread), an eerie mystery set in the years following the Spanish Civil War. It swept the Goya awards in February, winning 9 out of 14 nominations. (Almodovar’s film just opened in Spain this month and won’t be eligible until next year’s Goya contest.) It is true that Almodovar has been consistently snubbed by the Spanish Film Academy, which makes the selections. The renowned director was bypassed for Talk To Her and Broken Embraces after winning the Oscar for Spain for All About My Mother in 1999. The situation got so contentious for a while that Almodovar actually resigned from the Spanish Academy as a protest against what he perceived as unfair voting practices. However, letting bygones be bygones, he did rejoin in April of this year. It was expected that goodwill gesture would be enough to put him back in the driver’s seat when it came time to vote for the Academy submission. But once again Spain’s most famous director has been overlooked in favor of another: the talented Agusti Villaronga, who does not nearly enjoy the international reputation of Almodovar. Sony Pictures Classics picked up Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In and will release it stateside on October 21st. Pa Negre has played a few American festivals but does not have any U.S. release as of now.

It was thought (by me in my preview) and others that the Foreign-Language Film race would fall right in line with the official competition of May’s Cannes Film Festival and contain high-profile films from well-known and well-rewarded directors. Instead, Spain and Italy both went a completely different way Wednesday in choosing the films that will represent them.

Italy has turned its nose up at Nanni Moretti’s well-received Cannes entry Habemus Papam, a very entertaining comedy/drama about what happens when the newly elected Pope gets cold feet and goes AWOL in Rome. IFC picked it up for U.S. distribution. Instead, the Italians chose the lesser known Emanuele Crialese film Terraferma, about the consequences when a group of North African migrants land on an Italian island. It won some awards at this year’s Venice Film Festival and also played Toronto. It opened in Italy this month but does not have U.S. distribution. Italy caused some waves last year bypassing the international hit I Am Love starring Tilda Swinton in favor of the lesser-known The First Beautiful Thing, which did not get nominated or even reach the Academy’s shortlist of 9 finalists). No surprise that Italy has not won the Foreign-Language Film Oscar since Roberto Begnini’s memorable triumph for 1998′s Life Is Beautiful. Spain last won in 2004 for The Sea Inside.

Several countries are still to be heard from and have until Monday to submit their choice. Last year there were 65 entries.

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NY Film Fest Adds Galas For David Cronenberg And Pedro Almodovar Films

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday August 15, 2011 @ 10:27am PDTTags: A Dangerous Method, David Cronenberg, New York Film Festival, Pedro Almodovar, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, The Skin I Live In
Mike Fleming

New York, NY, August 15, 2011 – The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the first-time addition of two Galas to join the Opening, Centerpiece and Closing Night Galas for the upcoming 49th New York Film Festival (September 30 – October 16) with David Cronenberg’s A DANGEROUS METHOD set to screen on Wednesday, October 5 and Pedro Almodovar’s THE SKIN I LIVE IN on Wednesday, October 12.

“We’re delighted to be welcoming David Cronenberg to the festival for the first time and to be welcoming back one of the NYFF’s closest friends, Pedro Almodovar,” says Richard Peña, Selection Committee Chair & Program Director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center. “It’s a special pleasure to introduce our audiences to exciting new work by two of contemporary cinema’s most challenging artists.”

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CANNES: Almodovar Awaits Verdict As Final Competition Films Premiere

By PETE HAMMOND | Sunday May 22, 2011 @ 3:01am PDTTags: Antonio Banderas, Cannes, Cannes Film Festival, Horror, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, Pedro Almodovar, Penelope Cruz, The Skin I Live In
Pete Hammond

It’s all over but the verdict. Sunday night will bring the Cannes Film Festival to a close with the announcement of winners for the various awards given for the Official Competition of this 64th Cannes affair. And it looks like a wide-open race for the coveted Palme d’Or. No one film seems to have jumped clearly ahead as there is still lots of speculation about whether it could be the Malick (cineaests here refer to the movies by their directors’ last names, not the film title), the Dardennes for the third time, the Kaurismaki, the Winding Refn, the Hazanavicius, the Almodovar or, heaven forbid(!), the von Trier. Or maybe, as so often happens, it will go to the unexpected or something no one is really buzzing about on the Croisette.

Saturday night brought the final two films in the competition. Radu Mihaileanu’s French entry La Source Des Femmes (The Source) was rapturously received at its 7 PM Lumiere premiere with a prolonged standing ovation and much applause even during the film itself. The story, or fable, of a group of women in a small village (somewhere between North Africa and the Middle East) who decide to wage a controversial sex strike unless their men help them fetch the water is entertaining and enlightening and could figure as a last-minute contender (as well as a strong possibility to be France’s entry for the Oscars). I doubt that will be the case for the final film, which premiered at 10:30 PM: Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s two-hour-and-37-minute Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, which I think may still be going on. The longest in 20-film group of contenders feels twice that length, a contemplative minimalist art film with no music and no real plot beyond anything a typical episode of CSI covers in its first five minutes. It is one of those movies fest directors love where people stare a lot, ponder a lot and talk about being bored. At least it provided some much-needed nap time; maybe the jury will give Ceylan a prize for letting them catch up on their sleep. He won an award here in 2008 for the overrated Three Monkeys, so you never know, but Robert De Niro’s jury has a lot better choices than this. Can you tell I am not a fan? Read More »

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Pathé UK Swaps Warner Bros For Fox

By TIM ADLER in London | Tuesday February 1, 2011 @ 6:37am PSTTags: Cameron McCracken, Francois Ivernel, Movie Distribution, Movies, Pathe UK, The Skin I Live In

The London-based arm of the French film company has switched Warner Bros for Fox to handle physical distribution of its theatrical releases. Back in April 2009 Pathé announced that Warner … Read More »

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