This screengrab from YouTube shows Jaclyn Jose (left) and Jomari Angeles in a scene from Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s “Ma’ Rosa”.
Despite being touted by some film-award observers and websites as a likely nominee, Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s award-winning Ma’ Rosa failed to advance in the foreign-language film race of the 89th Academy Awards, extending the Philippines’ quest to secure a spot in that category.
In a statement posted on its website last Thursday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) said that, out of the 85 official entries submitted for consideration, nine “will advance to the next round of voting.”
They are Australia’s Tanna, Canada’s It’s Only the End of the World, Denmark’s Land of Mine, Germany’s Toni Erdmann, Iran’s The Salesman, Norway’s The King’s Choice, Russia’s Paradise, Sweden’s A Man Called Ove, and Switzerland’s My Life as a Zucchini.
The announcement came several days after Ma’ Rosa failed to grab a slot in the foreign-language film category of the 74th Golden Globe Awards, organized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and seen as a good indicator of who and what film would be nominated for an Oscar.
It also came more than a month after Mendoza became the first recipient of the Film Development Council of the Philippines’ (FDCP) Golden Statue Assistance Program, which, the agency said, aims to “provide financial and service assistance to films competing for high-ranking international awards, such as the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes.”
Film-industry practitioners and observers had high hopes that Ma’ Rosa would be nominated after the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) picked it as its official entry to next year’s Oscars in September, four months after the gritty drama won for star Jaclyn Jose the best-actress prize at the 69th Cannes Film Festival.
That festival also recognized three of the shortlisted entries: It’s Only the End of the World won the Grand Prix, or the runner-up award; The Salesman earned best actor and screenplay honors for Shahab Hosseini and director Asghar Farhadi, respectively; and Toni Erdmann nabbed the Fipresci (International Federation of Film Critics) Prize.
Besides Ma’ Rosa, other notable films that were snubbed included France’s Elle (She), which has garnered lead performer Isabelle Huppert a number of best-actress awards from American critics’ groups, including those in New York and Los Angeles; Spain’s Julieta, the latest film of celebrated auteur Pedro Almodovar; and Chile’s Neruda, a biopic about renowned poet Pablo Neruda.
Ampas said foreign-language film nominees for this year are “determined in two phases.”
“The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based Academy members, screened the original submissions in the category between mid-October and December 12. The group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist,” the academy said.
“The shortlist will be winnowed down to the category’s five nominees by specially invited committees in New York, Los Angeles, and London. They will spend Friday, January 13, through Sunday, January 15, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots,” it added.
The five foreign-language film nominees will be announced together with those in other categories on January 24, 2017. The 89th Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, on February 26, 2017. ALVIN I. DACANAY
Source: The Market Monitor
