Program Highlights: This year’s festival has an exciting mix of offerings from established masters, notables of the future and possible Oscar candidates. Festival-goers will surely recognize names such as Alain Resnais, Ken Loach, Peter Greenaway, Marco Bellochio, Chen Kaige, Jan Hrebejk, Catherine Brelliat, and Hong Sang-soo, all of whom have offerings this year. And audiences will surely be exctited and intrigued by films from such promising new talents as Sarah Watt, Lu Chan, Marie Ade, Corneliu Porumboiu, and Andrea Arnold.
Below are summary lists of films and filmmakers eligible for this year’s New Director Audience Award; and 17 films submitted for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
New Directors: Ahmad Abdalla (Egypt), “Heliopolis”; Urzula Antoniak (Netherlands), “Nothing Personal”; Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar (Belgium), “A Town Called Panic”; Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor (U.S.), “Sweetgrass”; Alvaro Brechner (Uruguay), “Bad Day To Go Fishing”; Alexandre Franchi (Canada), “The Wild Hunt”; Don Hahn (U.S.), “Waking Sleeping Beauty”; Christo Georgiou (Cyprus), “Small Crime”; Hernán A. Goldfrid (Argentina), “Music on Hold”; Andre Khrzhanovsky (Russia), “Room and a Half”; Donal Mosher, Michael Palmieri (U.S.), “October Country”; Gerald Peary (U.S.), “For the Love of Movies”; and Ben Wheatley (Great Britain), “Down Terrace.”
Oscar Submissions: “About Elly” (Iran); “Ajami” (Israel); “Bad Day to Go Fishing” (Uruguay); “Chameleon” (Hungary); “Dawson Isla 10″ (Chile); “Forever Enthralled” (China); “Home” (Switzerland); “The Misfortunates” (Belgium); “Mother” (South Korea); “Nobody to Watch Over Me” (Japan); “Police, Adjective” (Romania); “A Prophet” (France); “Protector” (Czech Republic); “Reykjavik-Rotterdam” (Iceland); “Terribly Happy” (Denmark); “Ward No. 6″ (Russia); and “The Wind Journeys” (Colombia).
Website: Northwest Film Center.