Pedro Costa’s feature film was deemed worthy last January, when the American Academy revealed 93 films nominated for Oscars for Best International Film.
However, “Vitalina Varela” could not reach the list of 15 finalist films announced today, and the Academy Committee voted for the nomination of the 93rd edition of the Oscars with a view to be announced on 15 March.
According to the Oscar organization, the films “One more round” (Denmark), “Kuo Vadis, Aida?” (Bosnia Herzegovina), “La Llorona” (Guatemala), “El Agante Topo” (Chile), “Charlatan” (Czech Republic), “Dukes” (France), “Better Days” (Hong Kong), “Sun Children” ( Iran), “Night of the Kings” (Ivory Coast), “Yes No Estoi Aqui” (Mexico), “Hope” (Norway), “Collective” (Romania), “Dear Colleagues!” (Russia), “A Sun” (Taiwan) and “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (Tunisia).
The Academy also announced a list of eight other categories of finalists at the Oscars, including Best Documentary in Feature and Short Films, Best Animated Film and Best Soundtrack.
Despite presenting a work nominated for the annual Oscar, Portugal never had a film among those who were nominated for Best Foreign Film, in the non-English language, recently named Best International Film Gaya.
“Vitalina Varela” had its world premiere in August 2019 at the Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland), where she won the main awards: Golden Leopard and Leppard for Best Female Performance for Vitalina Varela, the woman who narrated the story filmed by Pedro Coast inspired .
Since Locarno, the film has won more than 22 awards, the majority for Best Film and Best Performance, having integrated over 50 international film festivals and exhibitions and collected laudable reviews, listing the best films of the year. Has been included in) specialized by various media.
The Brazilian documentary “Babenco – One must listen to the heart and say: Stopped”, by Barabara Paz, about an Argentine filmmaker living in Brazil who directed “O Bejo da Mulhar Aranaha” The candidates were excluded from the list.
Also left was the Palestinian candidate, “Gaza, mon Amour”, by brothers Tarzan Nassar and Arab Nassar, who had Portuguese co-production.
The candidates for the 93rd Oscars will be announced on 15 March and the ceremony will be on 25 April.
The ceremony was initially scheduled for February 28, but was eventually postponed to April due to the Kovid-19 epidemic.
