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Argentina
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Argentina
La tortuga Manuelita/Manuelita
Although he was born in Spain (in 1930) and did not relocate to
Argentina until he was 17, García Ferré is sometimes known as "the
Argentinian Walt Disney". But there is one big difference: although
his creations appeal to children, Ferré belongs more to the edgy
Latin American world of Borges than to that of Burbank and Bambi.
If anything, he is a post-modern animator.
The central character of La Tortuga Manuelita (Manuelita)
is, as the original Spanish title indicates, a tortoise - and a
female one at that. But she is not one of Ferré's own creations,
as featured in earlier animated films like Petete Y Trapito
(1975) or in classic comic strips such as Las Aventuras De
Hijitus and Anteojito; Manuelita the tortoise is the creation
of María Elena Walsh. Indeed, according to Ferré, the she all but
is Ms Walsh.
A firm local favourite for many years, Manuelita makes her big-screen
debut in a series of specially written adventures in Ferré's film.
Both director and writer insist she belongs more to the traditions
of Snow White and Bambi than to those of The Simpsons. But she is
also a character as much for adults as for children - "a free personality,
brazen, tender and highly imaginative".
Prod co: García Ferré Producciones; Prod/Dir: García Ferré; Scr:
María Elena Walsh, based on her own characters. Animated. Sales:
García Ferré Producciones.
1998 submission: Tango (nominated)
Previous Oscars: La Historia Oficial/The Official Version
(1985).
Austria
Nordrand/Northern Skirts
Nordrand (Northern Skirts) is 29-year-old Barbara Albert's
first solo feature after making a number of shorts and co-directing
the 1998 three-parter, Slidin', about life on the club circuit.
Like Slidin', it is about being young in present-day Austria.
Albert's screenplay focuses on five young people whose lives intersect
in Vienna in 1995, and who have to deal with a series of problems,
ranging from unwanted pregnancy to the repercussions of the war
in the former Yugoslavia.
"It all began in 1992, when the Iron Curtain came down and we felt
young and able to decide whether we wanted to bring children into
this world," says Albert. "Then, in 1992, the war started to control
all our lives... or perhaps it didn't. But it turned our view of
the world upside down. In any case, we see Jasmin, Tamara, Senad,
Valentin, Roman and the others look back, change and continue. But,
at the end, they are all exactly the same as they were at the beginning."
Northern Skirts - the title refers to the northern
suburbs of Vienna, where the film is set - had its world premiere
at the Venice Film Festival, where Nina Proll, who plays Jasmin,
won the Marcello Mastroianni Prize for best female newcomer.
Prod co: Lotus-Film (Vienna), zero film (Berlin), Fama Film (Bern)
in association with ZDF/Arte, ORF, SRG/SF DRS; Prod: Eric Lackner;
Co-prod: Martin Hagermann, Rolf Schmid; Dir/Scr: Barbara Albert;
Ph: Christine A Maier; Prod des: Katharina Wöppermann; Ed: Monika
Willi. With Nina Proll (Jasmin), Edita Malovcic (Tamara), Tudor
Chirilá (Valentin), Astrir Alihajdaraj (Senad), Michael Tanczos
(Roman). 103 mins. Sales: First Hand Films.
1998 submission: Die Siebtelbauern/The Inheritors
(not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
Belgium
Rosetta
The third Belgian submission in a row to contain the word 'Rose'
in its title (after Ma Vie En Rose in 1997 and last
year's Rosie), the Dardenne brothers' Rosetta won the Palme d'Or
at Cannes this year, where newcomer Emilie Dequenne also shared
the Best Actress prize.
A bleak portrait of the life of a teenager struggling to find a
job and make ends meet in a wintry Belgium where unemployment is
the norm, Rosetta is the latest and most internationally
acclaimed of the social-realist features the Dardennes have, since
1986, been making alongside their equally acclaimed documentaries.
"We try to keep things as unadulterated as possible, without knowing
absolutely everything that can happen," says Jean-Pierre, the oldest
(by three years). "There are holes in the things we shoot and these
holes are to be filled in by the viewer in whichever way he chooses."
"Telling stories is an obstacle to their existence," adds Luc. "We
tried not to narrate: everything was done to avoid it. What is touching
and moving about Rosetta is that she doesn't want to pretend to
live. So she fights, perhaps to the extent that she does things
that would be unacceptable under different circumstances."
Prod co: Les Films du Fleuve, RTBF (Belgium), ARP Sélection (France);
Prod: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Michèle and Laurent Pétin; Assoc
prod: Arlette Zylberberg; Dir/Scr: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne;
Ph: Alain Marcoen; Prod des: Igor Gabriel; Ed: Marie-Hélène Dozo;
Mus. With Emilie Dequenne (Rosetta), Fabrizio Rongione (Riquet),
Anne Yernaux (Mother), Olivier Gourmet (Boss). 97 mins. Sales: ARP
Sélection.
1998 submission: Rosie (not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
Bhutan
Phörpa/The Cup
Bhutan's first-ever Oscar submission is also the first feature-length
movie directed in the Tibetan language by a Buddhist lama. With
production assistance from Australia (where the post-production
was done) and with UK veteran Jeremy Thomas as executive producer,
Phörpa (The Cup) had its international premiere to
huge acclaim in the Directors Fortnight at Cannes and has since
gone on to a series of international releases.
It tells the story of a group of exiled Tibetan monks who become
obsessed by the 1998 World Cup - in particular 14-year-old Orygen,
who is eager to see France win and carries the rest of the monastery
along with the sheer weight of his enthusiasm. Eventually, they
raise money for a satellite dish to watch the final on television.
Writer/director Khyentse Norbu spends several months each year in
strict retreat and the film's actors were, in fact, real monks studying
at a college of Buddhist philosophy. "Retreats are part of the job
of living," he says. "We have to face ourselves and our minds."
But, he adds, "film has the potential of showing us who we are,
too: the process of illusion is similar."
Prod co: Palm Pictures LLC (US), Coffee Stain Productions Pty (Australia);
Prod: Malcolm Watson, Raymond Steiner; Exec prod: Hooman Majd, Jeremy
Thomas; Dir/Scr: Khyentse Norbu; Ph: Paul Warren; Prod des: Raymond
Steiner; Ed: John Scott; Mus: Douglas Mills. With Orgyen Tobygal
(Geko), Neten Chokling (Lodo), Jamyang Lodro (Orgyen), Lama Chonjor
(Abbot), Godu Lama (Old Lama). 94 mins. Sales: Hanway Films.
1998 submission: None.
Previous Oscars: None.
Brazil
Orfeu
Brazil has made it through to the final round in each of the past
two years, and could do so again with Carlos Diegues' version of
Vincius de Moraes 1956 classic Orfeu De Conceição.
French director Marcel Camus' version, Orfeu Negro (Black
Orpheus), won the Best Foreign Film Oscar three years later,
but Diegues believes it has done much to perpetuate the cliché of
Brazilians as "a happy people, their back turned to civilisation,
dancing and singing beautiful songs in a dreamy landscape".
The film starts on the first Saturday of Rio's annual Carnival.
Orfeu (Toni Garrido) is head of one of the Samba 'schools' - the
film's music is composed by legendary Brazilian musician Caetano
Veloso and played by the real-life Escola de Samba Unidos do Viradouro
- while Euridice (Patricia França) is an outsider searching for
a relative after the death of her father.
Brazil has changed enormously since the play was written, says Diegues,
and his adaptation of the story reflects those changes, with the
introduction of a local drug dealer and the conversion of the Carnival
into a TV attraction for tourists. "Orfeu is the story
of a desire for resurrection by the strength of art and in the name
of love," he insists.
Prod co: Mima Fleurent, Rio Vermelho Filmes, Globo Films; Prod:
Renata de Almeida Magalhaes, Paul Lavignac; Dir: Carlos Diegues;
Scr: Carlos Diegues, with the collaboration of Hermano Vianna, Hamilton
Vaz Pereira, Paulo Lins, João Emanuel Carneiro, based on the play
Orfeu De Conceição by Vincius de Moraes; Ph: Affonso Beato; Prod
des: Clóvis Bueno; Ed: Sérgio Mekler; Mus: Caetano Veloso. With
Toni Garrido (Orfeu), Patricia França (Euridice), Murilo Benício
(Lucinho), Zezé Motta (Conceição), Milton Gonçalves (Inácio). 112
mins. Sales: Warner Bros (worldwide except Europe)/Colifilms/TF1
(Europe).
1998 submission: Central Do Brasil/Central Station
(nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
Canada
Emporte-moi/Set Me Free
Léa Pool's Canadian/Swiss/French co-production had its international
premiere in competition at the 1999 Berlin International Film Festival,
where many felt Karine Vanasse ought to have won Best Actress for
her remarkable portrayal of a teenager coming to terms with adulthood
and sexuality in Montreal in 1963. Strongly impressed by Godard's
Vivre Sa Vie, Vanasse's Hanna struggles to forge
a new identity away from her loveless home life and takes the first
hesitant steps towards coming out.
Despite her age, Vanasse is a veteran of Canadian film and television,
as well as a singer and a keen competitive skier. Hanna, meanwhile,
is exactly the same age as Pool, and her sexual awakening reflects
themes in several of the director's earlier films, notably Anne
Trister.
One major difference, however, is that Pool grew up in Switzerland,
not moving to Quebec until 1975. But this, too, is reflected in
Emporte-Moi: Hanna's father (played by Kusturica
and Paskaljevic regular Miki Manojlovic) is an immigrant Jewish
poet who finds as much difficulty adapting to his new homeland as
he does in expressing affection. As a result, the enlightening influence
on Hanna comes from outside: from her teacher, played by noted Canadian
writer Nancy Huston, who collaborated on the screenplay.
Prod co: Cité-Amérique Cinéma Télévision Inc (Canada), Catpics (Switzerland),
Haut et Court (France); Prod: Lorraine Richard, Alfi Sinniger, Carole
Scotta; Dir: Léa Pool; Scr: Léa Pool, in collaboration with Nancy
Huston and Monique H Messier Ph: Jeanne Laporie; Prod des: Serge
Bureau; Ed: Michel Arcand; Mus: ECM. With Karine Vanasse (Hanna),
Alexandre Mérineau (Paul), Pascale Bussières (Mother), Miki Manojlovic
(Father), Nancy Huston (Teacher). 94 mins. Sales: TF1 International.
1998 submission: Un 32 Août Sur Terre/August 32nd On Earth
(not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
China
Huang He Jue Lian/Lover's Grief Over The Yellow River
China's 1999 entry is the second part of director Feng Xiaoning's
trilogy examining modern Chinese history through the eyes of foreigners
who happen to be involved.
Set in Shaanxi province in the closing days of World War II, Huang
He Jue Lian takes as its focus a US fighter pilot who makes
a crash landing behind Japanese lines but is rescued by a detachment
of the Chinese 8th Army and led to safety by a small detachment,
including a young nurse, with whom he eventually falls in love.
The nurse is played by Chinese star Ning Jing, best known in the
West for her role in Paoda Shuang Deng/Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker
- and who also starred in the first film in Feng's trilogy, Hong
He Gu/Red River Valley - while the pilot is played by Ning's real-life
American husband, Paul Curci.
Prod co: Shanghai Film Studios; Dir: Feng Xiaoning. With Ning Jing,
Paul Curci, Wang Xinjun, Tu Men, Li Ming. Ed: Feng Sihai; Mus: Suo
Ge; Sales: Shanghai Film Studios.
1998 submission: Genghis Khan (not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
Colombia
Golpe De Estadio/Time Out
A Colombian/Spanish/Italian co-production, Sergio Cabrera's Golpe
de estadio (Time Out), is a darkly comic allegory which ties together
two of the dominant strands of Colombian life: football and civil
unrest. The former, the implication is, unites nations, while the
latter divides them. As for the comedy, the film is prefaced by
a quote from the Zapatistas' Subcommandante Marcos: "In the face
of horror, humour".
Golpe de estadio begins with a group of Colombian soldiers, headed
by Sgt Garcia (Cesar Mora), guarding a US-owned oil tower in south-eastern
Colombia from a local group of guerrillas led by María (Amma Suárez)
and Carlos (Nicolás Montero). At the same time, the vital 1994 World
Cup qualifying game between Colombia and Peru is taking place.
The film, says 45-year-old director Sergio Cabrera, "stems from
the desire to transform an imaginary story about a group of guerillas
and a group of soldiers declaring a truce so that both can watch
the only TV set in the village into a tragicomic metaphor for peace."
But things get a little out of control when the national team scores
the decisive goal: a helicopter pilot fires his guns in excitement,
accidentally destroying the oil tower...
Prod co: Sésamo Ltda (Colombia), Tornasol Films (Spain), Emme srl
(Italy); Prod: Gerardo Herrero, Sandro Silvestri, Maura Vespini;
Dir: Sergio Cabrera; Scr: Claude Pimont, Ben Odell, in collaboration
with Humberto Dorado, Sergio Cabrera, Maura Vespini; Ph: Giovanni
Mammolotti; Prod des: Federico García Cambero; Ed: Fernando Pardo,
Nicholas Wentworth; Mus: Germán Arrieta, Gonzalo Sacarminaga. With
Emma Suárez (María), Nicolás Montero (Carlos), Raúl Sender (Jose
Josu), César Mora (Sargento García), Andrea Giordana (Máuser). 105
mins. Sales: Alta Films.
1998 submission: La Vendedora
De Rosas/The Rose Seller (not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
Croatia
Crvena Prasina/Red Dust
A grim tale of life in the Balkan republic of Croatia during what
writer Goran Tribuson calls "the agony of the former Yugoslavia",
Crvena Prasina (Red Dust) takes its title from a
line in Dostoevesky which says that "the blood is least visible
on the red" - a phrase whose significance is not revealed until
the end of the film. The story is told through the eyes of 16-year-old
Skgra (Kristijan Ugrina), who witnesses the whole, violent chain
of events.
Everything begins when Crni (Josip Kucan), a successful amateur
boxer, deserts from the army after the authorities fail to deliver
the telegram about his mother's death, and returns to Zagreb, where
his girlfriend, Lidija (Sandra Loncaric), is about to marry the
local mafia boss (Slaven Knezovic).
Crbi himself drifts into petty crime, and ends up unintentionally
working for the same boss. Lidija eventually leaves her violent
husband, but dies in suspicious circumstances in Crbi's house. He
is jailed. Then the war breaks out and everything changes, and such
small crimes begin to pale into insignificance alongside what is
happening in the former Yugoslavia.
Shown in Venice this year and a prizewinner at Haifa, Red
Dust is the third feature from 42-year-old director Zrinko
Ogresta, whose last film, Isprani (The Washed Out), was Croatia's
Foreign Oscar submission in 1995. Prod co: Inter Film, Hvratska
Televizija; Prod: Ivan Maloca; Dir: Zrinko Ogresta; Scr: Goran Tribuson,
Zrinko Ogresta; Ph: Davorin Gecl; Prod des: Ivica Trpcic; Ed: Josip
Podvorac; Mus: Neven Franges. With Josip Kucan (Crni), Marko Matanovic
(Zrik), Ivo Gregurevic (Kirby), Slaven Knezovic (Boss), Mirta Takac
(Sonja), Kristijan Ugrina (Skgra), Sandra Loncaric (Lidija). 105
mins. Sales: Interfilm/HRT Croatian Television.
1998 submission: Transatlantic (not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
Czech Republic
Návrat Idiota/Return Of The Idiot
Inspired by Dostoevsky's The Idiot, Navrat idiota (Return
Of The Idiot) is the second film from Czech writer/director
Sasa Gedeon, following his acclaimed 1995 debut with Indianske
leto (Indian Summer). The new movie has already been a critical
and commercial success at home, and has had festival screenings
in Montreal, Toronto and Venice.
Gedeon's screenplay reveals both the real world portrayed in the
film and the introspective world as seen by the 'idiot' of the title,
Frantisek (Pavel Liska). He returns home after spending most of
his adult life in an asylum and becomes intimately - and naively
- involved with the complicated conflicts between lovers, siblings
and parents.
"Our story aims to glimpse the world through an idiot's eyes and
to capture the reality of common explanations and stereotype which
we usually use to measure the world," says Gedeon. "In his attitude,
the idiot has a poetic, magic quality which helps to form a sort
of magi-poetic realism - a punchy rawness elevated to the level
of metaphor.
"Our story can thus be read as a realistic narration, and at the
same time as the idiot's dreams - a way of returning, of coming
back, which could only have unravelled in his head."
Prod co: Negativ, Czech TV, Stillking Films, Cinemasound, ZDF, Arte;
Prod: Petr Oukropec; Dir: Sasa Gedeon; Scr: Sasa Gedeon, inspired
by Dostoyevsky's The Idiot; Ph: Stepán Kucera; Prod des: Petr Fort;
Ed: Petr Turyna; Mus: Vladimír Godár. With Pavel Liska (Frantisek),
Tatiana Vilhelmová (Olga), Anna Geislerová (Anna), Jirí Langmajer
(Robert), Zdena Hadrbolcová (Mother). 104 mins. Sales: Negativ Ltd.
1998 submission: Je Treba Zabít Sekala/Sekal Has To Die
(not nominated).
Previous Oscars: Kolja/Kolya (1996). As Czechoslovakia:
Ostre Sledovane Vlaky/Closely Observed Trains [US: Closely
Watched Trains] (1967); Obchod Od Na Korze/The Shop
On Main Street (1965).
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