Oscars: Brazil Not in Best Foreign Film Shortlist, but Documentary Still Eligible

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil is out of the competition for an Oscar for best foreign film in 2020.

On Monday, December 16th, the Hollywood Academy released the list of finalist nominees, and ‘The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão‘, the Brazilian competitor, is out.

The Brazilian documentary produced by Netflix, ‘The Edge of Democracy‘, however, is on the list of the best documentary category.

As expected, ‘Parasite’, by Bong Joon Ho, and ‘Pain and Glory’, by Pedro Almodóvar, are on the list for best foreign film, alongside the French film ‘Les Misérables’ by Ladj Ly, among six other productions.

Officially, the Academy changed the name of the category for 2020: it is now called Best International Film.

Joker, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Avengers: Ultimatum each received two nominations in this preview.

Check out the full list of Oscar nominees for best foreign film in 2020:

Czech Republic, The Painted Bird
Estonia, Truth and Justice
France, Les Misérables
Hungary, Those Who Remained
North Macedonia, Honeyland
Poland, Corpus Christi
Russia, Beanpole
Senegal, Atlantics
South Korea, Parasite
Spain, Pain and Glory

‘The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmão’ premiered on November 21st, after winning the ‘Un Certain Regard’ exhibition, one of the most prestigious at the Cannes Festival in May, and having had two gala premieres in Brazil. The film is inspired by Martha Batalha’s book, ‘The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão’.

Director Karim Aïnouz, raised by his mother, in an environment predominantly dominated by women – his grandmother, plus four aunts -, wanted to portray the women of a certain generation, oppressed by dominant men, but who nonetheless persevere.

The Academy reports that a foreign film is defined as a feature film (over 40 minutes) produced outside the United States with dialogues mostly in a language other than English.

When will the 2020 Academy Awards take place?

The final Oscar nominations will be announced on Monday, January 13th, 2020, and the ceremony will be held on Sunday, February 9th.

‘The Edge of Democracy’

Petra Costa’s documentary film had its world premiere in Sundance in January, and after that traveled through a major festival circuit. She has won favorable reviews in publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, El País and Variety.

In Brazil, in general, the acceptance was good, but not unanimous.

See the list of documentaries nominated for the 2020 Oscar:

Advocate
American Factory
The Apollo
Apollo 11
Aquarela
The Biggest Little Farm
The Cave
The Edge of Democracy
For Sama
The Great Hack
Honeyland
Knock Down the House
Maiden
Midnight Family
One Child Nation

Other nominees

Other categories also disclosed their shortlists of finalists before the official announcement on January 13th. ‘Joker’ was pre-nominated in two categories: makeup and hair and original soundtrack.

‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ has not even reached theaters yet, but is also in two categories in this preview: soundtrack and special effects, the same two as ‘Avengers: Ultimatum’.

Source: Estadão

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