This is interesting, I was not aware of it, but if it happens I will be purchasing this film ASAP. Last week I was reading an article in Le Figaro if I recall correctly and the comments were indeed very good.

Pro-B

Austria, “The Counterfeiters,” Stefan Ruzowitzky is on R5 with 5.1 audio, as well as a Russian dub track. I rented it from my local arthouse DVD rental last night. Great picture. I'd wait to buy an R2, but for a $3 rental it was worth it. Also checked out 4 months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days. Great film, and left me with a feeling similar to that when I watched Moodyson's Lilja 4-ever. I have seen a few more of these, but films like Secret Sunshine and Exiled aren't even worth discussing. Suprised Taxidermia is on that list. While I loved it, I saw it over a year and a half ago in the theatre, even before the North American premiere of Pan's at the TIFF. Why is it up for an Oscar this year? Shouldn't it have been nominated last year along with Pan's?

Brazil's “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation,” is the opening night film at this year's DC Jewish Film Festival - November 29th

Portugal's Belle Toujours and Sweden's You, The Living are late additions to AFI's European Union Film Festival this Saturday and Sunday (11/17 and 18)

The following was taken from the oscars.org website:

Nine Foreign Language Films Advance in 2007 Oscar® Race

Beverly Hills, CA — Nine films will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 80th Academy Awards®. Sixty-three films had originally qualified in the category.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Austria, “The Counterfeiters,” Stefan Ruzowitzky, director

Brazil, “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation,” Cao Hamburger, director

Canada, “Days of Darkness,” Denys Arcand, director

Israel, “Beaufort,” Joseph Cedar, director

Italy, “The Unknown Woman,” Giuseppe Tornatore, director

Kazakhstan, “Mongol,” Sergei Bodrov, director

Poland, “Katyn,” Andrzej Wajda, director

Russia, “12,” Nikita Mikhalkov, director

Serbia, “The Trap,” Srdan Golubovic, director



Foreign Language Film nominations for 2007 are being determined in two phases.

The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 63 eligible films and their ballots determined the above shortlist.

A Phase II committee, made up of ten randomly selected members from the Phase I group, joined by specially invited ten-member contingents in New York and Los Angeles, will view the shortlisted films and select the five nominees for the category.

Phase II screenings will take place from Friday, January 18, through Sunday, January 20, in both Hollywood and New York City.

Nominations for the 80th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 22, 2008, at 5:30 a.m. PST in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2008, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Flixtime, this means, that the 5 will be chosen from this 9 films?????

I saw the Czech film, I served the King of England on a special screening in Budapest, Menzel almost appeared, but his flight was delayed from India and he was too tired.
The film was what I expected, very Central European and ironic.

Anybody saw Katyn? I am really interested in it.

Menzil was at the AFI Silver screening for 'I Served the King of England' he did a post film Q&A for the first screening and only an introduction for the second screening (I of course was at the second one )

is Beaufort getting a US theatrical release? - I missed the screening last month at the DC Jewish Film Festival.

That is right.

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the kind welcome.

I wanted to see The Trap (the Serb film) in cinema, but somehow I missed it, it seemed really intriguing.

I got to see the following via a friend from China on DVD:

China, “The Knot,” Yin Li, director;

I am not surprised it never made it to the final few. It was a long, over dramtic, tear jerker. But very beautifully shot and managed. Worth a look for those who love asian cinema.

I thought Exiled was a fucking masterpiece.

The final 5:

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Nominees:

Fälscher, Die (2007)(Austria)

Beaufort (2007)(Israel)

Mongol (2007)(Kazakhstan)

Katyn (2007)(Poland)

12 (2007)(Russia)

Is Mongol out on DVD anywhere? I just saw Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea - a wanna be epic from Japan. Inacurate and disappointing. But remarkable scenery of Mongolia and a great transfer - HK disc.

More likely than not this will be the winner: Beaufort (2007)(Israel).

It is extremely political with a specific "message" story which I've noticed the Academy always recognizes when it comes to foreign Oscars. It had the right buzz in Berlin as well (Best Director Award) and its best competitor, La Sconosciuta, was eliminated.

As it was the case with Tsotsi I think that the Academy will seek to make a statement. Unless they are in a mood for some exotic surprise it is Beaufort's Oscar to lose.

This being said, if this film was directed by Gitai it would have never made it this far (I don't want to get into why and for what reasons but I am most certain of it).

Ciao,
Pro-B

ps

I am yet to see Katyn and Mongol.

I already wrote here before. Beaufort is available on dvd with English subtitles from this website (ships worldwide):

http://www.israel-music.com/various/beaufort/dvd/

Are the other 4 available anywhere?

Ilan,
Do you own the "Beaufort" disc?