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Japan
Lebanon Mexico Nepal
Netherlands Norway
Peru Philippines Poland
Portugal Romania Russia
Slovakia Spain Sweden
Switzerland Tadjikistan Taiwan
Turkey Venezuela
Japan
Poppoya Tetsudo-en/ Poppoya: Railroad Man
Veteran Japanese actor Ken Takakura won the best acting prize in
Montreal this summer for his playing of an elderly stationmaster
in Horomai in northern Japan, looking back over his life after discovering
that his station - to run which he has neglected almost all other
areas of his life - is about to close.
Otomatsu Sato (Takakura) gets news that the branch line is to be
closed, and begins to regret all that he had sacrificed for the
sake of the railroad: the death of his daughter, then of his wife,
who died in hospital while he felt unable to leave his job. Then
a pretty little girl carrying a doll turns up on the platform, and
there is something about her that rivets his attention.
Prod co: Toei Company ltd, 'Poppoya' Production; Prod: Sunao Sakagami;
Dir: Yasuo Furuhata; Scr: Yoshiki Iwama, Yasuo Furuhata, based on
a story by Jira Asada; Ph: Daisaku Kimura; Prod des: Katsuhiro Fukuzawa;
Ed: Kiyoaki Saito; Mus: Ryoichi Kuniyoshi, Ryuichi Sakamoto. With
Ken Takakura (Otomatsu Sato), Nenji Kobayashi, Shinobu Otake, Ryoko
Hirosue. 111 mins. Sales: Toei Company Limited. 1998 submission:
Ai Wo Kou hito/Begging For Love (not nominated).
Previous Oscars: Samurai (1955), Jigokumon/Gate
Of Hell (1954), Rashomon (1951).
Lebanon
Autour De La maison Rose/Around The Pink House
After a 20 year break whose causes are not hard to devine, Lebanon
is submitting a film for the second year running. And, like last
year's entry, the money used for making Autour De La Maison
Rose (Around The Pink House) is mainly French, with contributions
from Quebec.
The European MEDIA Programme's Sources also part-funded the development
of the screenplay by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Lebanese
born and French trained film-makers, here making their feature debut.
The war provides little more than a background to the story, which
is about two families who face eviction from a magnificent old building
called the Pink House where they have been squatting for 11 years
and which, as part of the economic boom now gripping Beirut, the
building is to be transformed into a commercial centre.
"Everything's great: that's what all the signs say in postwar Beirut,
which has become one of the biggest building sites in the world,"
say the writer/directors. "An open wound is being stitched up without
actually being healed. But our film does not seek answers: it poses
certain questions linked both to the obligation to remember and
the need to forget."
Prod co: Mille et Une Productions (France), Les Ateliers du Cinéma
Québécois; Prod: Anne-Cécile Berthomeau, Edouard Mauriat, Jean Dansereau;
Dir/Scr: Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil Joreige; Ph: Pierre David; Prod
des: Frédéric Bernard; Ed: Tina Baz; Mus: Robert M Lepage. With
Hanane Abboud, Fadi Abi Samra, Asma-Maria Andraos, Nabil Assif,
Tony Balaban. 92 mins. Sales: Mille et Une Productions.
1998 submission: West Beyrouth/West Beirut (not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
Mexico
El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba/No One Writes To The Colonel
Veteran Mexican director (and frequent director of Foreign Oscar
submissions) Arturo Ripstein began his career in the early sixties
directing two potboiler westerns written by Colombian Nobel Prize-winner
Gabriel Garcia Marquez. But it has taken him 30 years to get to
the point where he felt able to tackle one of the master's best-known
works: El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba (No One Writes
To The Colonel), the story of an elderly Colonel living
in abject poverty in a small town in Vera Cruz, constantly waiting
for the letter which will bring news of his war pension but which
he knows in his heart will never arrive.
It is very much of a mood piece and difficult to adapt into a film,
partly because very little happens (the Colonel waits for the mailboat
and plots the equally hopeless task of training his fighting cock)
and partly because the story is extremely short - less than 70 pages.
"This is the most difficult film I've done since my first two,"
admits Ripstein. "They were tremendously difficult because I didn't
know the craft. Now, I know the craft well: I have been practicing
it for many, many years. But this is one of the films in which technique
was an obstacle between me and the story."
Prod co: Producciones AmArAntA, Gardenia Producciones (Mexico),
Tornasol Films (Spain), DMVB Films (France); Prod: Jorge Sanchez;
Dir: Dir: Arturo Ripstein; Scr: Paz Alicia Garciadiego, based on
the short novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; Ph: Guillermo Granillo;
Prod des: Antonio Muńohierro; Ed: Fernando Pardo; Mus: David Mansfield.
With Fernando Luján (The Colonel), Marisa Paredes (Lola), Salma
Hayek (Julia), Ernesto Yáńez (Don Sabas), Rafael Inclán (Father
Angel). 118 mins. Sales: World Sales Christa Saredi.
1998 submission: Un embrujo/Under a Spell (not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
Nepal
Himalaya: L'Enfance D'Un Chef/Caravan
Premiered in Locarno this summer, Himalaya: L'Enfance D'Un
Chef (Caravan) is, as the title implies, a French-produced
movie made by travel writer and short film-maker Eric Valli, who
has spent years in the region and was second-unit director on Jean-Jacques
Annaud's Seven Years In Tibet.
The community at the heart of the film is, indeed, a Tibetan one
(filming took place in the Dolpo region of Nepal, close to the border
with Tibet), and the film's language and characters are likewise
Tibetan, as are most of the actors (of whom one, Lhapaka Tsamchoe,
was in Seven Years In Tibet).
More than anything else, Valli's film seeks to portray a vanishing
way of life in a small village whose survival depends on yak caravans
crossing the mountains to barter salt for food supplies, and the
story - of Pasang (Karma Wangei), younger son of the village headman
whose elder brother has been killed in an accident, and his conflict
with Karma (Gurgon Kyap), who wants to take over leadership of the
caravans - is almost secondary. But the locations are quite literally
breathtaking; an avalanche sequence is edge-of-the-seat stuff; and
the overall result, wrote Jenny Leask in the Edinburgh programme,
is "a magnificent, beautiful and moving film".
Prod co: Galatée Films, France 2 Cinéma, Les Productions de la Guéville,
Bac Films, Antélope (France), Les Productions JMH (Switzerland);
Prod: Jacques Perrin, Christophe Barratier; Dir: Eric Valli; Scr:
Eric Valli, Olivier Dazat, Jean-Claude Guillebaud, based on an original
idea by Eric Valli and Olivier Dazat; Ph: Eric Guichard, Jean-Paul
Meurisse; Prod des: Jérôme Krowicki; Ed: Marie-Josčphe Yoyotte;
Mus: Bruno Coulais. With Thilen Lhondup (Tinle), Lhapka Tsamchoe
(Pema), Gurgon Kyap (Karma), Karma Tensing Nyama Lama (Norbu), Karma
Wangiel (Pasang). 109 mins. Sales: Président Films.
1998 submission: None.
Previous Oscars: None.
Netherlands
Madelief: Krassen In Het tafelblad/Scratches In The Table
This year's Dutch entry is based on a well-know children's book
called Madelief by Guus Kuijer which has already been turned into
two successful children's television series, both directed by Ineke
Houtman, who also helms the feature. The producer, meanwhile, is
Hans de Weers, who was responsible for 1995 Oscar-winner Antonia's
Line.
The central character in Madelief: Krassen in het tafelblad (Scratches
in the Table) is 10-year-old Madelief (Madelief Verelst), whose
apparently crabby old grandma has just died and who is determined
to find out a little more about the old lady. She goes to stay with
her grandfather (Rijk de Gooijer), with whom she foeges a new relationship,
but the mysteries really begin when Madelief discovers a mysterious
shed in the garden.
"Ten-year-old Madelief doesn't experience shocking things," says
Houtman. "She doesn't fall in love, she isn't raped, she doesn't
travel to India or to the moon. The excitement is in her search
for the mysteries and the intimate discoveries she makes within
her family. It's a detective story without a killer, or even a real
crime. It is a film about loss."
Prod co: Egmond Film & Televisie; Prod: Hans de Weers; Dir: Ineke
Houtman; Scr: Rob Arend, Marten Lebens, based on the book by Guus
Kuijer; Ph: Sander Snoep; Prod des: Vincent de Pater; Ed: Leo de
Boer; Mus: Henny Vrienten. With Madelief Verelst (Madelief), Rijk
de Gooyer (Grandpa), Margo Dames (Madelief's Mother), Kitty Courbois
(Grandma), Freek Blom (Mischa). 85 mins. Sales: Egmond Film & Televisie.
1998 submission: De Poolse Bruid/The Polish Bride (not nominated).
Previous Oscars: Karakter/Character (1997); Antonia/Antonia's
Line (1995); De Aanslag/The Assault (1986).
Norway
Sufflosen/The Prompter
The debut feature from screenwriter and short-film director Hilde
Heier, Sufflosen (The Prompter) belongs firmly in
the Nordic tradition of wry romantic comedies anout hesitant relationships.
It received its international launch in Montreal, but by then it
had already been a hit back home in Norway, where it was released
in the spring.
The title character, Sive (Hege Schoyen), is a sensitive but insecure
young woman who works as a prompter at the Norwegian National Opera,
amd whose job tends to influence the way she lives ("I wanted to
explore the phenomenon of not daring to take a place but waiting
to be given one," says Heier, who also wrote the screenplay).
Siv marries a well-off doctor who has two children from a previous
marriage, and whose wheelchair-bound former wife soon reappears
on the scene. Before long, Siv is back out on the street - carrying
a tuba. And that is how she meets up with a Swedish tuba player
who would have made a much better partner...
"For the prompter," says Heien, "the Swede represents her first
encounter with someone who 'sees' her - an outsider who sees what
those close to her don't. He is a reflection through which she is
able to see herself." Prod co: Wildhagen Productions, in association
with CO Film; Prod: Christian Wildhagen; Dir/Scr: Hilde Heier; Ph:
Harald Gunnar Paalgard; Prod des: Aida Kalnins; Ed: Sophie Hesselberg.
With Hege Schoyen (Siv), Sven Nordin (Fred), Philip Zanden (The
tuba player), Sigrid Huun (Fred's ex-wife). 97 mins. Sales: BV International
Pictures.
1998 submission: Bare Skyer Beveger Stjerne/Only Clouds Move
The Stars (not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
Peru
Pantaleón Y Las Visitadoras/Captain Pantoja And The Special
Services
With Pantaléon Y Las Visitadoras (rather curiously
translated as Captain Pantoja And The Special Services),
one of the Peru's most experienced and durable directors, Franciso
J Lombardi, brings his homeland back into the Foreign Oscar fold.
The film is an adaptation of a novel by the nation's most famous
author, Mario Vargas Llosa, who is best-known internationally for
the surreal satirical comedy, La Tia Julia Y El Escribador
(Aunt Julia And The Scriptwriter).
Prod co: América Producciones, Incafilms, RTVE; Prod: ; Dir: Francisco
J Lombardi; Scr: Giovanna Pollarolo, Enrique Moncloa, based on the
novel by Mario Vargas Llosa; Ph: Teo Delgado. With Salvador del
Solar, Angie Cepeda, Mónica Sánchez, Pilar Bardem.
1998 submission: None.
Previous Oscars: None.
Philippines
Saranggola/The Kite
Veteran Filipino director Gil M Portes - whose last film was the
transexual comedy Miguel/Michelle - is on more familiar social-melodrama
ground here with Saranggola (The Kite), the story
of macho Manila policeman called Homer (Ricky Davao), who shoots
a suspected burglar on his roof, only to discover that the intruder
was in fact a young boy trying to retrieve his kite.
For all his failings, Homer is a loving father to his 10-year-old
son, Rex (Lester Llansang). And the already tragic event takes on
a new dimension when it tanspires that Rex is the only witness to
the killing. Homer's natural instinct is to cover his tracks. But
Rex's moral dilemma of whether or not to reveal what he has seen
creates new problems for both him and his father.
Prod co: GMA Films, Teamwork Productions; Prod: Marco M Capistrano;
Dir: Gil M Portes; Scr: Jose Y Dalisay Jr, Gil M Portes; Ph: Louie
Quirino; Prod des: Tanny Perez; Ed: Tara Illenberger; Mus: Joy Marfil.
With Ricky Davao (Homer), Lester Llansang (Rex), Jennifer Sevilla,
Mark Gil, Sining Blanco. 85 mins. Sales: GMA Films.
1998 submission: Sa Pusod Ng Dagat/In The Navel Of The Sea
(not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
Poland
Pan Tadeusz
It is difficult to find a non-Polish yardstick against which to
measure the concept of Andrzej Wajda, Poland's greatest living director,
making a movie based on Pan Tadeusz, the key work
by 19th-century Polish national icon Adam Mickiewicz: written in
1834, Mickiewicz's epic poem lies at the heart of the country's
sens of identity.
Produced in co-operation with Les Films du Losange, Eric Rohmer's
regular base, Pan Tadeusz could hardly be further
from the French director's chamber dramas. It weaves together the
destinies of two families during the 1811 'Incursion into Lithuania',
with themes of nationalism, redemption and, as Wajda puts it, "the
nobility of the past coming out of Poland". A romantic drama in
the true sense, it merges recognisable human emotions with larger-than-life
characters.
"Taking up an epic work of such popularity today," says Wajda, "demands
the response to the following question: what can it bring to film
audiences that they have not already learned at school and which
is not considered sacred? Pan Tadeusz ('Lord Tadeusz') incarnates
for the Poles the world of childhood which, according to the poet,
'always remains fresh and pure like first love'. The author's confession
not only signifies the poetic description, but the romantic memories
of the experience."
Prod co: Heritage Films, Les Films Du Losange in association with
Canal+ Polska, Le Studio Canal+; Prod: Lew Rywin; Dir: Andrzej Wajda;
Scr: Andrzej Wajda, Jan Nowina-Zarzycki, Piotr Weresniak, based
on the poem by Adam Mickiewicz; Ph: Pawel Edelman; Prod des: Allan
Starski; Ed: Wanda Zeman; Mus: Wojciech Kilar. With Boguslaw Linda
(The Bernardin Robak), Daniel Olbrychski (Gervais), Grazyna Szapolowska
(Télimčne), Andrzej Seweryn (The Judge), Marek Kondrat (The Count).
xx mins. Sales: Le Studio Canal§+.
1998 submission: None.
Previous Oscars: None.
Portugal
Os mutantes/The Mutants
Portugal, among countries regularly submitting films for the Foreign
Oscar, remains the most defiant example of choosing a demanding
art film rather than compromising with something more likely to
appeal to Academy members.
Os Mutantes (The Mutants) is about a group of young
people who refuse to conform to society's norms and who are on a
more or less permanent crash course with their fellow citizens.
"They don't accept the place that was already fixed for them before
they could even have any sort of choice," says 33-year-old actress
and director Teresa Villaverde of her third feature, which premiered
in Un Certain Regard in Cannes this year. It originally started
out as a documentary about society's outcasts, and Villaverde attempted
to preserve that approach by casting people from Portugal's rehabilitation
centres. That, however, met with official opposition and the writer/director
had to look elsewhere, enlisting the help of similar but non-governmental
organisations in finding her actors.
"In a certain way, they are survivors," she says of her characters.
"The world would maybe like that they didn't exist - but they do
and they are part of the future. And the world is screwed if it
doesn't get it."
Prod co: JBA Production, La Sept Cinéma (France), Mutantes Filmes
(Portugal), Pandora Film (Germany); Prod: Jacques Bidou, Gabriela
Cerqueira; Dir/Scr: Teresa Villaverde; Ph: Acŕcio de Almeida; Prod
des: Sčrgio Costa; Ed: Andree Davanture. With Ana Moreira (Andreia),
Alexandre Pinto (Pedro), Nelson Varela (Ricard), Helder Tavares
(Franklin), Paulo Pereira (Zezito). 115 mins. Sales: Leonor Films.
1997 submission: Inquietude/Anxiety (not nominated)
Previous Oscars: None.
Romania
Famosul Paparazzo/ The Famous Paparazzo
Famosul Paparazzo (The Famous Paparazzo) is the 12th film
from former director of photography Nicolae Margineanu and, like
most recent Romanian films, it has a political undercurrent.
But the main focus is the the title character, Gary (Marcel Iures),
a 30-year-old reporter who specialises in scandal. Determined to
dish the dirt on a member of the opposition who is having an affair
with an underage girl, he positions himself in the attic room of
terminally depressed 45-year-old prostitute Miss (Maria Ploae),
which is directly opposite the hotel room where the politician has
his trysts.
In due time, Gary gets his photographs and leaves. But when he does
so, the disappearance of the money he has been paying her plus the
absence of his regular company is too much for Miss, who commits
suicide. Implicated for once in the lives he has always observed
from a distance through his viewfinder, Gary is arrested.
Prod co: Ager Film, Romanian Television, The Studio of the Ministry
of Culture, Dakino Studio, Total Professional Records; Dir: Nicolae
Margineanu; Scr: Rasvan Popescu; Ph: Doru Mitran; Prod des: Srefan
Antonescu; Ed: Nita Chivulescu; Mus: Petru Margineanu. With Marcel
Iures (Gary), Maria Ploae (Miss), Gheorghe Dinica, Alexandru Repan,
Victoria Cocias. 94 mins. Sales: Ager Film.
1997 submission: Terminus Paradise/Last Stop Paradise
(not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None
Russia
Moloch
Shot in German, but using theatre actors from St Petersburg dubbed
with the voices of colleagues from Berlin, Alexander Sokurov's Moloch
centres on a day in the life of Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler and their
entourage at the Führer's retreat in the Bavarian Alps. It received
its world premiere at Cannes, where Yuri Arabov won the Best Screenplay
prize.
It is the spring of 1942, a couple of months before the German defeat
at Stalingrad, and Eva's emotions are enflamed by the complexities
of a man incapable of human intimacy, and complicated by the fact
that hers is the only voice that dares contradict the Fuhrer.
"It's not only Nazism which implies the willingness to sacrifice
everything for one's ambitions," says Sokurov. "It's not only Nazism
which seeks to eliminate the fear of death by sacrificing the lives
of others. In this sense, any power can be a Moloch.
"It would have been unbearable to stay face-to-face with Hitler
as the sole protagonist," he adds. "I would have lacked fresh air.
I couldn't love him, and thatŐs why I needed somebody else - Eva
- to love him. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to discern
him: you can't see anything black against a black background."
Prod co: Lenfilm, zero film, in association with Fusion Product,
Fabrica, ARTE/WDR; Prod: Victor Sergeev, Thomas Kufus; Dir: Alexander
Sokurov; Scr: Yuri Arabov; Ph: Alexei Fyodorov, Anatoli Rodionov;
Prod des: Sergei Kokovkin; Ed: Leda Semyonova. With Elena Rufanova/Voice
of Eva Mattes (Eva Braun), Leonid Mosgovoi/Voice of Peter Fitz (Adolf
Hitler), Leonid Sokol/Voice of Gerd Wameling (Josef Goebbels), Elena
Spiridonova/Voice of Maud Ackermann (Magda Goebbels), Vladimir Bogdanov/Voice
of Udo Kroschwald (Martin Borman), Anatoli Schwederski/Voice of
Friedrich W Bauschulte (Priest). 102 mins. Sales: Celluloid Dreams
1998 submission: None.
Previous Oscars: Outomlionnye solntsem/Burnt by the Sun
(1994). As USSR: Moskva slezam ne verit/Moscow Does Not Believe
in Tears (1980), Derzu uzala (1975), Voina
i mir/War and Peace (1968)
Slovakia
Vsichni moji blizci/ All My Loved Ones
Although it is the Slovakian submission for this year's Oscars,
Vsichni moji blizci (All My Loved Ones) is set at
the far end of what used to be Czechoslovakia, in the province of
Bohemia, up against the borders with Germany.
The story - starting in October 1938 - is based around the real-life
efforts of an Englishman, Nicholas Winton, to smuggle to safety
as many Bohemian Jews as possible. But the real focus of the film
is on the family of Jacob Silverstein, a doctor in a provincial
town who tries to maintain the normal niceties of life as things
begin to disintegrate around him.
"Refusing to see the warning signals that bear out the monstrous
ideology and growing threat of Nazi power," says director and co-writer
Matej Minac, "like millions of other people the Silversteins rejoice,
love, believe and doubt."
Eventually, however, Dr Silverstein yields to the evidence of events.
Expelled from his house by his formerly deferential gardener, who
finds power and influence with the Nazis, and horrified by the suicide
of his musician brother Jackie, he finally entrusts his son David
to Winton. And the boy becomes the only member of the damily to
survive the holocaust.
Prod co: In Film, Sting, Titanic; Prod: Jiri Bartoska, Rudolf Biermann;
Dir: Matej Minác; Scr: Jiri Hubac, from a story by Matej Minac;
Ph: Dodo Simoncic; Prod des: Martin Kurel; Ed: Patrik Pass; Mus:
Janusz Stoklosa. With Jiri Bartoska, Libuse Safrankova, Ondrej Vetchy,
Josef Abrhám, Marián Labuda. 94 mins. Sales: Beta Film. 1998 submission:
Rivers of Babylon (not nominated).
Previous Oscars: As Czechoslovakia: Ostre sledovane vlaky/Closely
Observed Trains [US: Closely Watched Trains]
(1967); Obchod od na Korze/The Shop on Main Street
(1965)
Spain
Todo sobre mi madre/ All About My Mother
Spain has already won one Foreign Oscar this decade and been nominated
twice in the past five years. But Pedro Almodóvar's Todo Sobre
Mi Madre (All About My Mother) - winner of Best Director
at Cannes and voted Best European Film 1999 in Berlin last month
- looks like being this year's favourite and is a virtual certainty
to reach the last five.
It is the story of Manuela (Cecilia Roth), a single mother who,
after the death of her son in a freak road accident, embarks on
a search for his father. This leads her back to the Barcelona she
left 18 years ago, only to discover that the boy's father is now
a transvestite called Lola.
"The first spectacle that I remember seeing [as a child] was a group
of women talking on the patio," says Almodóvar. "I didn't know it
then, but this was going to be one of the subjects of my 13th film:
the capacity of women to play-act, to fake.
"The title comes from All About Eve. Among other subjects,
Mankiewicz's film deals with women and actresses: women who confess
and lie to each other in theatre dressing rooms, converted into
a sancta sanctorum of the female universe (an equivalent to the
patio of my childhood). Three or four women talking represent, for
me, the origin of life, but also the origin of fiction and of narration."
Prod co: El Deseo SA (Spain), Renn Productions, France 2 Cinéma
(France); Prod: Agustín Almodóvar; Dir/Scr: Pedro Almodóvar; Ph:
Affonso Beato; Prod des: Antxón Gomez; Ed: José Salcedo; Mus: Alberto
Iglesias. With Cecilia Roth (Manuela), Marisa Paredes (Huma Rojo),
Penélope Cruz (Sister Rosa), Antonia San Juan (Agrado), Candela
Peńa (Nina), Rosa María Sardá (Rosa's mother).101 mins. Sales: United
Artists.
1998 submission: El Abuelo/The Grandfather (nominated).
Previous Oscars: Belle Epoque (1993); Volver
A Empezar/To Begin Again (1982).
Sweden
Under Solen/Under The Sun
A regular among Sweden's Oscar contenders (he last represented his
adopted country in 1994 with Sista Dansen/The Last Dance),
British-born director Colin Nutley returns to the territory he mined
so successfully in 1992 with Anglagard (House Of Angels):
the rural Sweden of the 1950s.
The script of Under Solen (Under The Sun) is based
on a short story by HE Bates called 'The Little Farm', whose basic
premise is strikingly similar to Denmark's submission this year:
a lonely farmer advertises for a housekeeper and ends up falling
in love with her.
But the similarities stop there. The tone here is more serious as
the shy and lonely Olof (played by top Swedish stage actor Rolf
Lassgard) falls heavily for sophisticated city girl Ellen (Nutley's
wife and star of each of his last six films, Helena Bergström).
But so does his young friend, Erik (Johan Widerberg, son of the
late Swedish director and star of his Lust og fagring stör/All
Things Fair), an untrustworthy former sailor.
The film's main focus is on how the relationship between Olof and
Erik deteriorates and falls apart as the latter tries to move in
on Ellen. Also notable among the film's cast, meanwhile, is Linda
Ulvaeus, daughter of Abba members Björn and Agnetha.
Prod co: Sweetwater AB, in co-operation with Svensk Filmindustri,
SVT Göteborg/Drama, Film i Väst, Nordisk Film & TV Fond; Prod/Dir:
Colin Nutley; Scr: Colin Nutley, Johanna Hald, David Neal, based
on the short story, 'The Little Farm', by HE Bates; Ph: Jens Fischer;
Prod des: Bengt Fröderberg; Ed: Perry Schaffer; Mus: Paddy Moloney.
With Rolf Lassgard (Olof), Helena Bergström (Ellen), Johan Widerberg
(Erik), Gunilla Röör (Newspaper receptionist), Jonas Falk (Preacher),
Linda Ulvaeus (Lena). 118 mins. Sales: Svensk Filmindustri. 1998
submission: Fucking Amäl/Show Me Love (not nominated).
Previous Oscars: Fanny Och Alexander/Fanny And Alexander
(1983); Sĺsom I En Spegel/Through A Glass Darkly (1961);
Jungfrukĺllan/The Virgin Spring (1960).
Switzerland
Beresina, Oder Die Letzten Tage Der Schweiz/Beresina, Or The
Last Days Of Switzerland
Launched to considerable acclaim in Un Certain Regard at Cannes
this year, veteran Swiss director Daniel Schmid's Beresina,
Oder Die Letzten Tage Der Schweiz (Beresina, Or The Last Days Of
Switzerland) is a satirical comedy about Russian call-girl
Irina (Elena Panova) who is enchanted by her fairytale new home
amid Switzerland's squeaky-clean mountains.
Very popular with the nation's politicians, Irina becomes their
confidant and promises total discretion in return for a fast track
to that most elusive of goals, Swiss citizenship. But the deal turns
sour and Irina, threatened with deportation, finds herself in a
position where her own fate and that of Switzerland are intertwined.
"Irina wanders through a backdrop that any Swiss would recognise,"
says Schmid, "falling hopelessly in love with the manufactured paradise
they promise her. Behind her, in faraway Russia, a whole clan waits,
bags already packed. Their kitchen gradually becomes a souvenir
shop where Heidi and Willhelm Tell stand alongside a stuffed St
Bernard with his little barrel of lifesaving schnapps.
"Beresina is a comedy set against an imaginary background. The foremost
decisive factor is the fact that what appear to be incredible situations
and characters assume a light-hearted matter-of-factness through
the inherent logic of it all."
Prod co: T&C Film AG (Switzerland), Pandora Film (Cologne), Prisma
Film (Austria); Prod: Marcel Hoehn; Dir: Daniel Schmid; Scr: Martin
Suter; Ph: Renato Berta; Prod des: Peter Spoerri; Ed: Daniela Roederer;
Mus: Karl Hänggi. With Elena Panova (Irina), Geraldine Chaplin (Charlotte
De), Martin Benrath (Alt-Divisionnär Sturzenegger), Ulrich Noethen
(Dr Alfred Waldvogel), Ivan Darvas (Direktor Vetterli). 108 mins.
Sales: T&C Film AG.
1998 submission: La Guerre Dans Le Haut-Pays (not
nominated).
Previous Oscars: Reise Der Hoffnung/Journey Of Hope
(1990); La Diagonale Du Fou/Dangerous Moves (1984).
Tadjikistan
Luna Papa
Launched in Venice and voted People's Choice at the Vienna International
Film Festival two month's later, Luna Papa was made
under hugely difficult circumstances in the former Soviet Central
Asian Republic. The purpose-built set was washed away and, on another
occasion, shooting had to halt when armed gangs invaded the area.
In the end, the shoot lasted 170 days, between April 1998 and April
1999, and the set was kept supplied out of a suitcase with bundles
of cash by producer Karl Baumgartner of Pandora Film (who also has
a production credit on the Portuguese and Swiss submissions this
year).
The third film from Tadjik exile Bakhtiyar Khudojnazarov, who now
lives in the West, following on from Bratan (1991)
and Kosh Ba Kosh (1993), Luna Papa tells
the magic-realist story of 17-year-old Mamlakat (Chulpan Khamatova),
who is seduced by a visiting actor and sets off with her widowed
father, Safar (Ato Mukhamedshanov) and her brother, Nasreddin (played
by German actor Moritz Bleibtreu), with the unborn child providing
a running commentary from within her womb.
"In the Central Asia of today, where tradition and superstition
clash with the chaos of the post-modern world," says Khudojnazarov,
"reality is fantastic.
Thus, in our film, many scenes are set on the borderline between
realism and fantasy."
Prod co: Pandora Film (Germany), Prisma Film (Austria), in association
with Thomas Koerfer Film (Switzerland), NTV-Profit (Russia), Les
Films de l'Observatoire (France), Euro Space (Japan), Viss, Tadjik
Filmstudio (Tadjikistan); Prod: Heinz Stussak, Karl Baumgartner;
Dir: Bakhtiar Khudojnazarov; Scr: Irakli Kwirikadze, Bakhtiar Khudojnazarov;
Ph: Martin Gschlacht, Rotislav Pirumov, Dusan Joksimovic, Rali Ralchev;
Prod des: Negmar Dzhuraev; Ed: Kirk von Heflin, Evi Rohmen; Mus:
Daler Nasarov. With Chulpan Khamatova (Mamlakat), Ato Mukhamedshanov
(Safar), Moritz Bleibtreu (Nasreddin), Merab Ninidze (Alek), Nikolai
Formenko (Yassir). 106 mins. Sales: World Sales Christa Saredi.
1998 submission: None.
Previous Oscars: None.
Taiwan
Xing Fu Jin Xing Qu/ The March Of Happiness
Taiwan's 1999 submission had its international premiere in the non-competitive
Un Certain Regard in Cannes this year. The fifth film from former
baker Lin Chen-sheng, it is, as always, written by his wife, Ko
Su-ching (who, the production notes assure us, fell in love with
her husband because she "loves eating bread").
Set in 1945, when Taiwan is still under Japanese occupation, Xing
Fu Jin Xing Qu (The March Of Happiness) is about a love
affair between A-yu (Hsiao Shu-shen) and A-jin (Lim Giong), a penniless
young musician. A-yu loves theatre and is working with a local troupe.
Still in her teens, she is the daughter of an ambitious fish-ball
merchant known as The Seas Dragon (Chen Kun-chang) who wants her
to marry a doctor. A-jin is totally unsuitable.
Separated by the evacuation of Taipei during the Allied bombing,
the lovers meet up again after the war, and find that A-yu's father
is more determined than ever that his daughter will make a good
marriage. Indeed, the date is already set: February 28, 1947 - which,
as every Taiwanese knows, is the date on which Kuomintang troops,
forced out of mainland China, carried out a notorious massacre of
the local Taiwanese population...
Prod co: Formosa Television, Green Apple Company; Prod: Yeh Chin-sheng;
Dir: Lin Cheng-seng; Scr: Ko Su-ching, based on an original story
by Yeh Chin-sheng; Ph: Tsai Cheng-hui; Prod des: Tsai Chao-yi; Ed:
Chen Hsaio-jing. With Lim Giong (A-jin), Hsiao Shu-shen (A-yu),
Leon Dai (Zhan Tian-ma), Chen Kun-chang (Sea Dragon), Grace Chen
(Cigarette Woman). 93 mins. Sales: Taiwan Film Center.
1998 submission: Haishang hua/Flowers Of Shanghai
(not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
Turkey
Salkim hanimin taneleri/ Mrs Salkim's Diamonds
In a year which has seen Turkish films win acclaim abroad - Günese
yolculuk (Journey to the Sun) in Berlin; and Harem suare
in Cannes - the Turkish selectors have bravely nominated a local
hit which lifts the lid on a less than heroic period in the country's
past.
"It shows that a large community in Turkey is ready to share its
country's 'dirty laundry' with the world," said the Turkish Daily
News, "and join the long list of nations and communities who are
trying to apologise for a past they are not proud of."
Based on a popular book by Yilmaz Karakoyunlu, a parliamentary deputy
with the ANAP (Motherland Party), Salkim Hanimin Taneleri (Mrs Salkim's
Diamonds) is set in the latter part of World War II (1942-4). Greece
had already fallen, and sections of the ruling Turkish elite are
showing distinct sympathy towards the ideals of Nazi Germany.
The title of the film refers to a wealth tax introduced by the Saracoglu
government which "was to serve another purpose than simply to restore
the Treasury's depleted resources: it was also to further the aim
of 'Turkifying' the nation that began in the thirties".
Dir: Tomris Giritlioglu; Scr: Taner Baran, Etyen Mahçupyan, based
on the book of the same name by Yilmaz Karakoyunlu; Ph: Yavuz Türkeri,
Ercan Yilmaz; Prod des: Ziya Ulkenciler; Mus: Tamer Ciray. With
Derya Alabora (Nimet), Zafer Algoz (Durmus), Hülya Avsar (Nora),
Guven Kirac (Bekir), Zühal Olcay (Nefise), Ugur Polat (Levon), Kamran
Usluer (Halit Bey). 120 mins.
1998 submission: None.
Previous Oscars: None.
Venezuela
Huelepega/Glue Sniffer
After some controversy concerning last year's submission, Venezuela
has certainly not taken the easy option this year. Elia Schneider's
Huelepega (Glue Sniffer) echoes last year's Colombian
submission (and Cannes competition entry), La vendedora de
rosas (The Rose Seller) in depicting the grim lifestyle
of the country's street kids, and their inevitable drift into drugs.
In an economic climate which, long before the repercussions of December's
flood disaster, made it impossible for local funding body the CNAC
to back more than a handful of films, Glue Sniffer is a co-production
with Spain drawing on private finance sources in Venezuela.
Prod co: Joel Films; Dir: Elia Schneider; Scr: Nestor Caballero,
Elia Schneider.
1998 submission: Rizo/Loop (not nominated).
Previous Oscars: None.
With thanks to Lissy Bellaiche, Copenhagen; Marek Cydorowicz, Warsaw;
Voula Georgakakou, Greek Film Centre, Athens; Richard James Havis,
Hong Kong; Ron Holloway, Berlin; Sřren Kragh-Jacobsen, Copenhagen;
Renata Magalhăes, Rio de Janeiro; Katerina Rihova, Prague; Arturo
Ripstein, Mexico City; Marek Rozenbaum, Tel Aviv; Marlies Ruijter,
Amsterdam; Marselli Sumarno, Jakarta
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