Unlike what happens in almost all aspects of life, the first step of Argentina, 1985 in the race for Oscar for Best International Film 2023 It was the simplest, because it was a secret with voices that the Argentine Film Academy –whose 250 members they voted for her among the 61 titles eligible this year– would lean towards the film that recreates what happened during the Trial of the Military Juntas that commanded the destinies of the last civic-military dictatorship, just as it had happened at the time of electing her as national representative in the Goya Awards Spanish people. Even more so if the main media dedicated to following the activity of Hollywood, with Variety y The Hollywood Reporter to the head, they come pointing at it as candidate signatures to win the statuette since its premiere at the venice festivalseveral weeks before the official announcement on Monday night.
But, How is the road going for the film by Santiago Miter starring Ricardo Darín and Peter Lanzani? Who will he face? What should happen so that at the gala of the March 12 There is national representation for the seventh time in 95 editions of the Oscar Awards? The important thing is to have patience. A lot, since it is not a sprint race but a marathon with several previous steps that lead to the big night of show business.
The first key date is October 3, when the period expires for each country to send its candidate, which as a condition must be spoken at least 50 percent in a language other than English and have been released in theaters between January 1 and November 30. It is worth clarifying that several titles have not yet been released in their country of origin, so those in charge of the election, who are usually members of organizations linked to the audiovisual sector or government areas dedicated to culture, see them in exclusive screenings, as happened here with the members of the local Academy.
Here things start tanglebecause the category for Best International Film, like those for short films and Animated Feature Film, has multiple rounds of voting. In the first, a “Preliminary Committee” will see all the submitted productions and vote secretly to form a “shortlist” of fifteen titles to be announced on December 21. Then comes the turn of the “Nominating Committee”, which will choose five of those fifteen for the final list. The quintet will be known along with the rest of the nominations during the morning of the January 24. The vote to define the winner of the statuette is open to all members of the Hollywood Academy, as long as they show that they have seen the five chosen ones.
The main contenders
According to a portal survey OtrosCines.com, there is already 70 movies from the same number of countries listed. One piece of good news is that India broke all odds by sending Last Film Show instead of RRRan overproduction of Netflix very well received in the United States and which the main analysts imagined disputing the statuette hand in hand with Argentina, 1985. But hey, why? Nor should we celebrate ahead of time: Among the contenders, several stand out that have had a more than worthy tour of the main European festivals. Such is the case of the Belgian Closeof very young Lukas Dhont (31 years old), who won the Grand Prix at Cannesand of Decision to Leaveby Park Chan-wook (same as Oldboy), which premiered in the Official Competition of the French event and with which South Korea will try to repeat the hit of Parasite.
Poland was another country that appealed to the luster that comes with having a world premiere at Cannes by choosing EOof the octogenarian Jerzy Skolimowski, who left France with the Jury Prize in his hands. Also with a statuette, in this case that of Best Screenplay, the Swedish went Boy From Heavenby Tarik Saleh. Other films that visited the country of the rooster in May, and that seek their place in the Oscar quintet, are the Danish Holy Spiderby Ali Abbasi, and the Austrian Corsetby Marie Kreutzer. From the Venice Festival came the French Saint-Omerby Alice Diop, while Alcarrasby the Spanish Carla Simón, had its baptismal screenings at the Berlinalewhere it won neither more nor less than the Golden Lion for Best Film.
