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"Making a movie is like a marriage - You should fall in love with the idea first
because you'll be spending a lot of time with the project"
Götz Spielmann, Austria
The 31st Foreign Language Film Symposium once again attracted a large audience from around the world. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was packed with nominated cast and crew members, media representatives, jury members, distinguished guests and fans.
With 67 countries submitting their film a new record was set. Each of the films is viewed by a 400 member voting board, which, by the way, included Keanu Reeves. It is the rule, that films must be seen in film format at a movie theater and not on DVD.
Moderator Mark Johnson mentions, that 1/4 of the submitted films deal with the Holocaust, a clear indication, that the healing process is ongoing. He also reveals, that we are on the doorsteps of discovering amazing directors from South America.
Although there is no common thread tying together the nominated films this year, they stand out by being inventive - A live-action autobiography from Israel, a near-documentary from France, a historic study from Germany, a unique revenge thriller from Austria and the introduction of a rather unknown profession by Japan.
But the making of these films is usually as fascinating and interesting as the films themselves.
TO BE CONTINUED SOON...
WALTZ WITH BASHIR
ISRAEL
directed by Ari Folman
CAST
Ari Folman
Ori Sivan
Roni Dayag
Shmuel Frenkel
Ron Ben Yisahi
Dror Harazi
Boaz Rein Buskila
Carmi Cna'an
Yehezkel Lazarov
Photographer was on assignment for "German World Magazine" - All photos taken with prof. equipment
Nassim Amrabt, Laura Baquela, Cherif Bounaïdja Rachedi, Juliette Demaille, Dalla Doucouré, Arthur Fogel, Damien Gomes, Louise Grinberg, Qifei Huang, Wei Huang, Franck Keïta, Henriette Kasaruhanda, Lucie Landrevie, Agame Malembo-Emene, Rabah Naït Oufella, Carl Nanor, Esmeralda Ouertani, Burak Özyilmaz, Eva Paradiso, Rachel Régulier, Angelica Sancio, Samantha Soupirot, Boubacar Touré, Justine Wu, Atouma Dioumassy, Nitany Gueyes, Vincent Caire, Olivier Dupeyron, Patrick Dureuil, Frédéric Faujas, Dorothée Guilbot, Cécile Lagarde, Anne Langlois, Yvette Mournetas, Vincent Robert II,
Anne Wallimann-Charp
THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX
GERMANY
directed by Uli Edel
CAST
Martina Gedeck
Moritz Bleibtreu
Alexandra Maria Lara
Karoline Herfurth
Bruno Ganz
DEPARTURES
JAPAN
directed by Yojiro Takita
CAST
Masahiro Motoki
Tsutomu Yamazaki
Ryoko Hirosue
Kimiko Yo
Takashi Sasano
Kazuko Yoshiyuki
Unfortunately, director Yojiro Takita was not able to attend Friday's photo op, but did join the other directors at the symposium on Saturday.
The Directors of the Oscar nominated
Best Foreign Language Films
from left to right:
Götz Spielmann - Austria
Laurent Cantet - France
Ari Folman - Israel
Uli Edel - Germany
Yojiro Takita - Japan
was not able to make it in time for this event
The "In & Out" Photo Shoot
In all these years that I've covered the Oscars pre-events, I've never experienced a faster photo shoot than the one today - or as a colleague put it: "It actually took me longer to get dressed this morning [than this shoot lasted]".
Probably still haunted by last year's media frenzy, AMPAS made sure, that this year the chaos would not repeat itself (click here for last year's report).
Press call for stills photographers was 9:00 am - by 9:18 am we were told, that we're done. We were then quickly ushered out of the auditorium of the Academy's Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood to make room for the Video and TV crews, who've been waiting patiently in the foyer.
It was a well-organized, fast-paced shoot and despite the rush, everyone seems to have gotten the pictures they needed. In the end, that's all that counts, I guess.
15 YEARS OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND DESIGN EXPERIENCE
REVANCHE
AUSTRIA
directed by Götz Spielmann
CAST
Johannes Krisch
Ursula Strauss
Andreas Lust
Irina Potapenko
Hannes Thanheiser
Ari Folman (R)
with his producers
Roman Paul (L) and Gerhard Meixner (C)
Above:
Director
Götz Spielmann
Left:
Actor
Johannes Krisch
Producer Mathias Forberg, Actors Andreas Lust, Ursula Strauss, Johannes Krisch, and Director Götz Spielmann pose for the media. At first, they seem a little unsure on how to respond to the relentless flashes fired at them. Then a photographer suggests, that they "move closer together..." - "just pretend you like each other..."
...which prompts Götz Spielmann to ask: "Won't that be taken the wrong way?" [laughter all around] "This is LA - Anything goes!!" someone shouts, to which Spielmann sheepishly asks "So, Hollywood wants to be taken the wrong way??" [now everyone cracks up with laughter]
