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TIFF Watch / Foreign-Language Oscar: South Korea, Lebanon Submit
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », Romance », Toronto International Film Festival », Cinematical Indie »
Two more countries have officially tossed their hats in the ring for the Foreign-Language Oscar, according to separate stories in Variety, and both selections are screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. South Korea's entry is Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine. The well-regarded drama debuted at Cannes, where Jeon Do-yeon won the award for best actress. As the Variety story notes, she plays "a young widow who moves from Seoul to start over in a provincial city." Variety says that Secret Sunshine was selected over Kim Ki-duk's Breath (also a Cannes selection) and May 18, a box-office hit based on real events. In addition to its screenings in Toronto, Secret Sunshine will also be playing at the New York Film Festival and at AFI Fest in Los Angeles, but does not yet have US distribution.Another Variety story covers the general wariness of buyers toward the films on display in Toronto, but also reports that Lebanon officially selected Nadine Labaki's directorial debut Caramel as their Oscar entrant. According to Variety, the film opened in France and Lebanon in August and is already on course to become the top-grossing Lebanese release in those two territories. Caramel is a romantic comedy revolving around the lives of five women, set in and around a beauty salon in Beirut. The trailer at the official French site looks low-key and glossy. Jason Anderson at Eye Weekly called it "a Lebanese chick flick" that's "usually as fetching as it is familiar." Roadside Attractions has US distribution rights.
First Invitations Sent for New York Film Festival
Filed under: Drama », Foreign Language », Independent », New York », Cinematical Indie »
Did you get yours in the mail? Last year the complete line-up for the New York Film Festival was announced in August, but this year the early invites have already leaked out, courtesy of Scott Foundas. He's the lead critic and film editor for the LA Weekly, his reviews appear throughout the Village Voice alt-weekly chain, and he contributes reviews to Variety. Oh, and he's one of the two new members of the selection committee for the festival -- the other is J. Hoberman, longtime Voice critic. In a videotaped discussion with fellow writers David Poland (Movie City News and The Hot Blog), Anne Thompson (Variety) and Jeremy Smith (Chud), Foundas mentions that the Coen Brothers' No Country For Old Men, Korean director Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine and Romanian drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, along with two other unidentified films, have been invited. Foundas "thinks" that all five are confirmed to play at the festival this fall.None of the choices are surprising. All three were highly-praised when they premiered at Cannes last month, with awards presented to South Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon, the female lead of Secret Sunshine, and 4 Months (the Palme D'Or). In an interesting side note, Foundas also claims that 4 Months was pulled from the Los Angeles Film Festival, where it was scheduled to have its North American Premiere later this month, because the Telluride Film Festival, held over the Labor Day weekend, wanted the premiere.
Because of the New York Film Festival's prestige and press coverage, each spot in the line-up is highly coveted, especially by arthouse distributors who feel that having one of their films selected gives them an advantage in a ferociously tight market. The festival describes itself as "highly competitive with an average of 28 feature films" selected each year. Evidently only 23 invitations remain to be sent.
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