Incendies one step closer to Oscar nod
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its nine-movie short list for best foreign language film on Wednesday, and Canada’s official pick, Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies, has made the cut. This announcement rounds out quite a year for the Québécois filmmaker: Villeneuve’s Polytechnique cleaned up at the 2010 Genie Awards, Incendies was named best Canadian film at TIFF in September and, recently, Hollywood publication Variety named Villeneuve among its 10 filmmakers to watch. Exciting, indeed, but Incendies faces some tough competition for that Oscar.
Some of the other films in the running have been generating tremendous buzz of late, including the Golden Globe–winning Danish movie In a Better World and Mexico’s Biutiful starring Javier Bardem. The short list also boasts another Canadian connection with South Africa’s pick Life, Above All, adapted from Allan Stratton’s novel Chandra’s Secrets. Also an adaptation—Incendies is based on a work by Lebanese-Canadian playwright Wajdi Mouawad—Villeneuve’s film explores trauma and loss through the story of two Canadian twins that return to southern Lebanon on a mission to find out what led to their mother’s death.
The official Oscar nominations will be announced bright and early on January 25. We’ve got our fingers crossed.
• Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies makes Oscar shortlist [The Ampersand]
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