Academy sets overseas entries Taiwan, Israel come up with

[Mon]

http://www.variety.com/awardcentral_article/VR1117974237.html?nav=news&categoryid=1985&cs=1

New selections from Taiwan and Israel were among the record 63 entries for the foreign-language Oscar that include pics from first-timers Azerbaijan and Ireland.

Submissions from each country were due Oct. 1. Since then, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has been reviewing the entries to see if they meet qualifications.

AMPAS topper Bruce Davis said that Taiwan's initial selection was the much-praised Focus Features release "Lust, Caution," from the Taiwan-born Ang Lee, but the Acad's reviewing committed decided there wasn't enough Taiwanese participation on the pic. Taiwan was allowed to substitute "Island Etude," directed by Chen Huai-En.

Similarly, Israel has submitted "Beaufort" instead of "The Band's Visit," which the Acad deemed ineligible because more than 50% of the dialogue is in English. Directed by Joseph Cedar, "Beaufort" was the runner-up at the Israel Academy's Ophir Awards last month.

The disqualification of "The Band's Visit" drew a mixed reaction from Israelis as supporters tried to appeal to the Acad while others said the Israeli Academy should have foreseen the result given the extent of English-language dialogue in the pic. The Acad's rules for the foreign-language category stipulate that entries must be predominantly in a language other than English.

Selection of India's entry, "Eklavya: The Royal Guard," had been embroiled in a lawsuit. Bhavna Talwar, producer of "Dharm," one of the country's finalists, sued in a Mumbai court alleging conflict of interest because one of the selection committee members was an editor on "Eklavya" while two others were friends of director Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The judge will hear that case today, but it is unlikely to have any bearing on the Oscar race. The Acad has accepted the Hindi "Eklavya," starring Bollywood stalwart Amitabh Bachchan.

"We never had a problem with that film," Davis said. "After we took it in, there was a flap in India."

Meanwhile, in the U.K., producer Chris Young resigned his BAFTA membership because that org didn't send his Scot Gaelic "Searchd" to the Academy.

Among unusual entrants in this field, Australia sent in "The Home Song Stories," directed by Tony Ayres with dialogue in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

"It's part of the Chinese subculture in Australia," Davis said, pointing to other films Oz has sent in the foreign-language category, including pics in aboriginal languages and Spanish.

Azerbaijan submitted "Caucasia," directed by Farid Gumbatov, while Ireland entered the Gaelic-language "Kings," directed by Tom Collins and starring Colm Meaney.

[Marie]

[summertime]

Taiwan drops Ang Lee's 'Lust, Caution' as Oscar best foreign film entry

HONG KONG - Taiwan has dropped Ang Lee's new spy thriller "Lust, Caution" as its Oscar best foreign film entry because some key crew members were not locals.

Taiwanese official Chen Chun-jer said Oscar organizers rejected "Lust, Caution" as the island's entry because it violated requirements that at least some of the movie's personnel in cinematography, music, recording and costume design be locals.

"We and Ang Lee are disappointed. Lee has a good chance of winning an Oscar. This movie was also popular in Taiwan," said Chen, acting director of the movie department of Taiwan's Government Information Office, adding that the government respected the Oscar requirements.

"Lust, Caution" has made US$6.4 million) in Taiwan as of Sunday, a result normally achieved by Hollywood blockbusters, according to its American production company Focus Features.

Stanley Hung, secretary-general of Taiwan's Motion Picture and Drama Association, the body that decides on the island's Oscar best foreign film entry, said the group has appealed the rejection of "Lust, Caution" but hasn't heard back.

Oscars spokeswoman Teni Melidonian said in an e-mail organizers refused to accept the movie because "an insufficient number of Taiwanese participated in the production of the film," violating a rule that requires foreign countries to certify their locals "exercised artistic control" over their submission.

Despite being based in the U.S., Ang Lee is Taiwanese, as is the script writer of "Lust, Caution" Wang Hui-ling, but cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto is Mexican and composer Alexandre Desplat is French.

The movie is a U.S.-China-Taiwan co-production. Lee said earlier the film was budgeted at US$12 million, but he fronted another US$2 million.

It wasn't immediately clear how much Taiwanese money is in the film, which was shot in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

The withdrawal of "Lust, Caution" is a political blow to Taiwan, which views Lee and his Oscar wins as a symbol for national success as it asserts a separate identity from mainland China.

Lee won best director Oscar for the gay romance "Brokeback Mountain" last year, and his kung fu hit "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" won best foreign film for Taiwan in 2001.

Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949. Beijing still claims the self-ruled island as its territory and has threatened to retake it by force but the current Taiwanese administration stresses its de facto independence.


http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5g2COimM9wV_AQr723bCKBuxONDIA

[Info]

According to Chinese media, <Lust, Caution> should be eligible to compete for other Oscar awards as the movie has been shown in the US in September 2007.

[Marie]

[D-love]

Oh God I don't believe this! I just knew that Caution and Lust would win for best foreign film, if it was eligable for nomination. But all might not be lost. The Academy it self is made up of everyone in the movie biz. It's votes comes from it's own peers. Ang Lee has proven time and again that his work merits their praise. Tony is exactly what the Academy likes to vote for in the best actor cadigory if they can't have best foreign film. Don't for get best picture and best director. So please go and support this film if you can. It has already surprised many with it's gross in sales dispite it's rating and limited release, here in the US. This is like a race for President. Popularity counts alot to the voters. Everyone who worked on this film deserves recognition for their hard work!

D-love
_________________
Tony is Grrrrrrrrrrrrrreate

[summertime]

[Marie]

You know, I was wondering about that myself. Who was interviewing Tony? Where are these interviews? It is all very strange. Ang Lee seems to have been interviewed extensively, which makes sense since he is the director and is quite articulate, has a long-standing relationship with the American press, etc. But, as you say, Tony has been interviewed in the past by the American news media, both for In the Mood For Love and 2046. It is almost as if they are afraid to talk to Tony. I wonder if the sex scenes have anything to do with this? It is so strange.

Marie

[summertime]

Editorial: Oscar turns his back on Taiwan



Sunday, Oct 21, 2007, Page 8

Last week, Ang Lee's (李安) film Lust, Caution was prevented from competing as a Taiwanese film for the Best Foreign Film Award at next year's Oscars by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The reason? Too many key members of the production were not Taiwanese, which raises the interesting question of how films are defined by their "nationality."

It seems increasingly difficult today to define or determine "nationality," not just for people but also for cultural and commercial products.

Over the decades, the global film industry has mixed and matched talent, expertise, capital and artistic and commercial inspiration from around the world, a trend that is arguably accelerating, as suggested by Hollywood remakes of a series of Asian blockbusters such as The Killer, Ringu, The Grudge and Infernal Affairs. Such borrowing across the East-West line is not unprecedented: The Magnificent Seven was a successful 1960 remake of Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, for example.

Filmmakers in Asia have conversely borrowed talent and techniques from the West to enhance their filmmaking.

International participation and cooperation is here to stay. These are two of the most important factors in maintaining the quality of films, including in Hollywood, and replenishing pools of talent.

So, disqualifying a film from an award ceremony based on a percentage of less senior foreign crew members seems a little outdated -- if not indefensible. Intriguingly, the rules do not say what the percentages are.

Rule Fourteen for next year's Academy Awards states simply that: "The submitting country must certify that creative talent of that country exercised artistic control of the film," and that "The Academy will make the final determination in all questions of eligibility."

By refusing Lust, Caution a Taiwanese berth, the Academy is claiming that the Taiwanese director, writer and other Taiwanese members of the production crew -- and some of the film's financial backers -- did not exercise "artistic control" over the film. This might have been a more credible statement if the Academy had determined who did exercise this control and to which country these alleged people belonged.

But they did not, creating a situation in which any number of foreign films are ineligible for the Oscars because they are excessively multicultural and insufficiently "national."

Because there are no rules on this matter, we are left with the possibility of political or other interference with the nomination process, a problem that is by no means unique to this part of the Academy's duties.

Still, the fuss over this matter is of little import. Lee has enough Oscars to prove to people who take the Academy Awards seriously that he is a top filmmaker. And there is every likelihood that the film might not have survived the cut to the final five nominees, given that the US release of Lust, Caution has met with a substantial number of poor reviews.

If the Taiwanese government is going to take anything away from this minor fracas, it is this: There are Taiwanese filmmakers to back for an Oscar gong other than Ang Lee, a director of vision and brilliance who needs no further recognition.


http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2007/10/21/2003384127

[summertime]

Ang Lee regrets 'Lust, Caution' was withdrawn as Taiwan's entry at Oscars

The Associated Press

Sunday, October 21, 2007

TAIPEI, Taiwan: Director Ang Lee said Sunday he was disappointed that his new spy thriller "Lust, Caution" was withdrawn as Taiwan's entry in the best foreign film category at next year's Oscar awards.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rejected the entry last week because not enough Taiwanese participated in the film's production, violating a rule that requires foreign countries to certify that local people "exercised artistic control" over their submission.

Lee said he respected the Oscar rule but believed the requirement was unfair because Taiwan and Hong Kong customarily pool their resources and talent in film production.

"With Chinese-language films, their production systems and audiences are spread out wide," Lee told Taiwan's CTI Cable News in London, where he attended the film's premiere.

"This rule does not work well for the working environments of Taiwan and Hong Kong, and is unfair to them," he said.

A Taiwanese official has said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences requires that at least some of the movie's personnel in cinematography, music, recording and costume design be local citizens.

"Lust, Caution," about a relationship between an undercover activist and an intelligence chief in World War II-era Shanghai, won the top Golden Lion prize at this year's Venice Film Festival.

In 2001, Lee's kung-fu hit "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" won an Oscar for Taiwan for best foreign language film, although it also featured talent from Hong Kong and China.

Hong Kong's Tim Yip and Peter Pau collected the best art direction and best cinematography awards respectively for the kung-fu hit, and China's Tan Dun won the award for best original musical score.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/21/arts/AS-A-E-Taiwan-Oscars.php

[summertime]

Marie wrote: