Madrid, September 16: The movies “Mapa de los Sonidos de Tokio” (Map of the Sounds of Tokyo) by Isabel Coixet, “El Baile de la Victoria” (Victory Dance) by Fernando Trueba, and “Gordos” (Fatties) by Daniel Sanchez-Arevalo are the finalists for the Spanish film academy’s pick to be the country’s Oscar candidate in Hollywood for the category of Best Foreign Language Film.
The three productions are also candidates for the Ariel prizes awarded by the Mexican film academy.
Spain’s Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences will announce Sep 29 its final choice of the movie that will represent Spain in the 82nd edition of the Oscars from among the three finalists.
The candidates were announced Tuesday by actor Raul Arevalo at an event at the academy.
More that 100 productions competed for a slot as one of the three finalists, all premiering between Oct 1, 2008 and Sep 30, 2009.
This year, as a novelty, the film academy announced a short list for the movie that will represent Spain at the Ariel Awards of the Mexican film academy in the category of Best Ibero-American Film.
“Mapa de los Sonidos de Tokio”, starring Sergi Lopez and Rinko Kikuchi, premiered at the Cannes Festival and was shot 60 percent in Japanese and 40 percent in English.
It tells the story of a loner of a young woman who leads a double life, working at a fish market but occasionally contracted as a hired killer. One this occasion she is hired to kill the man she loves.
Coixet said in a telephone interview with EFE that the film, if it is chosen by the academy, “has its possibilities, because in the US there is currently an obsession with Japan”.
“El Baile de la Victoria” by Fernando Trueba will premiere next Saturday, outside of the competition, in the official section of the San Sebastian Film Festival, while treading the red carpet will be its star, Argentine actor Ricardo Darin.
Based on the book of the same title by Antonio Skarmeta, it tells how, with the return of democracy to Chile, a general amnesty is decreed for all convicts who have not committed violent crimes, including two thieves, one of whom wants to reform while the other aims to pull off the heist of a lifetime.
Trueba, who won an Oscar for “Belle Epoque”, said Tuesday he was “very nervous” before the premiere, and described his film as “a thriller with a touch of comedy and western, made for people from the heart”. The movie will start its run in theatres Dec 4.
Moviemaker Daniel Sanchez-Arevalo, after winning three Goyas with his first work “AzulOscuroCasiNegro” (DarkBlueAlmostBlack), premiered “Gordos” in theatres last week, a comedy that satirises, through the metaphor of obesity, all the fears, desires, obsessions, terrors and errors of man today.
–Agencies