Portuguese cinema on the way to the Oscars: three short films nominated for the finalists. “Alma Viva” fails to win the Best International Film award – News

It is a historic achievement of Portuguese cinema to more than double the curriculum hitherto known at the Oscars: three short films among the finalists who will compete for nominations in their categories for the Hollywood golden statues.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the finalists in 10 categories on Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles (early evening in Lisbon).

The animated short films “Ice Merchants” by João Gonzalez and “O Homem do Lixo” by Laura Gonsalves are among the fifteen finalists who will compete for five nominations in the Oscars category in Hollywood. It is reported that 81 films qualified.

“O Lobo Solitário” by Filipe Melo is on the “Short List” of 15 Short Films in True Picture, a category for which 200 films qualify. Speaking to SAPO Mag, Felipe Melo said “It’s really surreal – I feel so, so sincerely grateful for everything that’s happening. I’ve watched all the Oscars editions since I was a kid, so it’s easy to imagine what this means to me.”

Since the “shortlists” were announced publicly, two Portuguese animated shorts have been finalists but have not made it to the nomination: this happened with “História Trágica com Final Feliz” in 2006 and “Tio Tomás, A Contabilidade dos Dias” in 2019. , both by Regina Pessoa.

The selection process in both categories brought together volunteers from among the active and continuing members of these branches of the Academy, as well as directors, producers and screenwriters from the organization who had received a specific invitation to participate.

In the second round, all members of the chapters that see the fifteen finalists can vote to select the five nominees, who will be known along with the other categories on January 24.

To select the Oscar winners for Best Short Film in True Picture and Animated Short Film, who will be known at the ceremony on March 12 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, all Academy members who can prove they have seen the five nominated short films.

Oscar Finalist for Best Animated Short Film: “Ice Merchants”

Produced by the Portuguese collaborative COLA with the UK and France, the 14-minute “Ice Merchants” has as its starting point the image of a house on a mountain, leaning over an abyss. From there, the director developed the story of a father and son who produce snow in the inhospitable house they live in, and parachute out of it every day to sell it in the village at the foot of the mountain.

The world premiere of João Gonzalez’s film took place this year at Cannes Critics’ Week in France, where it was honored. Since then, he has won numerous international awards in the course of festivals, namely in Australia, Mexico, Croatia and England, which made him eligible for the selection from which the ten finalists emerged.

Movie trailer.

Oscar Finalist for Best Animated Short Film: “The Garbage Man”

Bando à Parte’s 11-minute “O Homem do Lixo” is the latest film written and directed under her own name by Laura Gonsalves, having co-signed the short “Água mole” in 2017, with Alexandra Ramires.

The work is about memories and memories, based on the life story of “Uncle Paton”, who worked as an immigrant in France as a garbage man, reads in the summary.

Among the awards won are the award for Best Portuguese Short Film at the Monstra-Festival de Animação de Lisboa, the Grand Prix from the Professional Jury and the Audience Award at the Animafest Zagreb Festival in Croatia.

Movie trailer.

Oscar Finalist for Best Short Film in Real Picture: “The Lone Wolf”

Produced by Força de Produção, “Lone Wolf”, whose Portuguese title is “O Lobo Solitário”, and signed by the multifaceted Felipe Melo, has already won Sofia for Best Short Film and the Public Award for Curtas de Vila from a number.

Filmed in a single take, the 24-minute film stars Adriano Luz as announcer Vito Lupo who, on Viva FM’s evening show, receives a call from an old friend who wants to catch up. The cast also includes the names of Antonio Fonseca, Maria Joao Pinho and the original music is co-signed with The Legendary Tigerman.

Felipe Melo has a multidisciplinary artistic career, having distinguished himself as a musician, integrating, for example, the project “Deixem o Pimba em Paz”, as screenwriter of a comic book, with several highly awarded albums released abroad (the most recent, ” Balada para Sophie”, already acquired the acquired rights for a TV adaptation), and also as a producer and director, his previous short film “Sleepwalk” also received a Sophia Award.

Movie trailer.

Portugal is repeating the negative tradition at the Oscars: “Alma Viva” is out of the race for Best International Film

“data-title =” Portuguese cinema on the Oscars path: three short films shortlisted for nominations. “Alma Viva” fails to win Best International Film – SAPO Mag “>

The film “Alma Viva” by Portuguese-French director Christel Alves Mera is not among the 15 finalists for the Oscar nomination for Best International Film.

Absenteeism increased to 39, a negative record for Portugal since 1980: it is the country that has most often submitted nominations in this category to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences without making it to the nominations (nor the finalists, since they began to be publicly announced in 2007).

Also missing is the film proposed by Albania, “A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes”, starring the brothers Rafael and Edgar Moraes, and co-produced in Portugal, by the production company Maria and Meyer.

In the list of finalists released by the Academy, there are several titles that have been deemed favorites in the final weeks of awards season. There are two surprises: the presence of nominated films from Morocco and mainly from Sweden.

* “Argentina, 1985”, Santiago Miter (Argentina);
* “Pardo, False Facts for the Number of Facts,” by Alejandro González Iñárritu (Mexico)
* “The Blue Caftan” by Maryam Touzani (Morocco).
* “The Cairo Conspiracy” by Tariq Saleh (Sweden).
* “Close,” by Lukas Dont (Belgium);
– “Corsage – Restless Spirit” Marie Kreutzer (Austria);
* “The Decision to Leave” by Park Chan-wook (South Korea);
* “EO,” by Jerzy Skolimowski (Poland);
* “The Holy Spider” Ali Abbasi (Denmark).
* “Joyland” by Saim Sadiq (Pakistan).
* “Last Film Show” by Bhan Nalin (India)
* “Nothing New in the West,” by Edward Berger (Germany);
* “The Quiet Girl” by Colm Piriad (Ireland)
* “Back to Seoul” by Davey Chu (Cambodia);
* “Saint Omar” by Alice Diop (France).

The process of reaching the 15 finalists began with 93 countries having submitted films by October 3 and the category executive committee at the Academy to check their eligibility according to the rules, i.e. more than 50% of the original dialogue and the same duration are not in English: although no explanation is given, it is known Malta is the only one that did not pass this stage.

Then, hundreds of volunteers from among the approximately 9,000 Academy members who formed a preliminary viewing committee in this category, divided into groups, had to watch the films assigned to them for six weeks, rating them with a score out of 10. In this whole process they are now known.

In the second round, Academy members who make up another panel are required to interview all finalists and vote on a secret ballot to determine the five nominees, who will be known along with the other categories on January 24.

As in short films, to choose the winner of the Academy Award for Best International Film, all Academy members who can prove they have seen the five nominees can vote.

With numerous awards at international festivals, “Alma Viva”, produced by Midas Filmes in co-production with France and Belgium, is the first feature film of the director, the daughter of a man from Minho and a woman from Trás-os-Montes who emigrated in France, who keeps On its association with Portugal. And paternal origins.

With an assumed subjectivism, although it is a fantasy, the film is described as a microcosm about family ties, migration, mysticism and the culture of Trás-os-Montes, and it was shot entirely in Junqueira, in the municipality of Vimioso, where the director has maternal roots and approved the filming, which took place last summer, mainly on non-professional actors from the region. It is also a portrait of Portuguese emigration, of families disintegrating between those who stayed and those who left, and the complex social and economic differences that arise from this.

Updated at 22:53 with comments from Felipe Melo.