Italy selects Berlin Fest winner “Fire at Sea” as its Oscar contenderSeptember 26, 2016 - 17:21 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Italy has selected Gianfranco Rosi’s refugee-crisis-themed documentary, “Fire at Sea”, as its candidate for the foreign-language Oscar, Variety said. The timely pic set on the tiny Sicilian island of Lampedusa, which thousands of mostly African refugees have been risking their lives to reach, won the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear earlier this year. Rosi also won the Golden Lion in 2013 at the Venice Film Festival for his previous documentary, “Sacro GRA.” Co-produced by Italy’s Rai Cinema, Istituto Luce, and Stemal Entertainment with Arte France Cinema, “Fire at Sea” has been widely sold around the world by Paris-based Doc & Film Intl. Kino Lorber is releasing it theatrically in the U.S. “Fire” is not the only documentary being submitted for consideration in the foreign-language Oscar derby. Ukraine has submitted Roman Bondarchuk’s documentary “Ukranian Sheriffs.” Rosi’s film is certainly Italy’s most high-profile picture to emerge on the festival circuit so far in 2016. No Italian films made the cut for Cannes competition this year, and those in the Venice competition were below par. The standout Italian movie at the local box office has been smash hit “Quo Vado,” featuring comic sensation Checco Zalone, which earned 65 million euros ($73 million) at the box office, making it Italy’s all-time top homegrown hit. But “Quo Vado” is not exportable. Italy last won a foreign-language Academy Award in 2014 with Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Great Beauty,” which marked its 11th foreign-language Oscar and consolidated the country’s status as the world’s winner of the most statuettes in that category. Nominations for the 89th Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 24. Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | European Parliament to discuss repression in Azerbaijan The European Parliament will discuss repression of civil society in Azerbaijan on April 24 PACE wants concessions from Azerbaijan to accept Baku back A PACE co-rapporteur said that Azerbaijani authorities must make certain concessions so that the country can return to PACE. Cyprus parliament honors Armenian genocide victims Acting House President Zacharias Koulias noted that April 24 marks the “black anniversary” of the Armenian genocide. Armenia PM, France envoy discuss regional matters Issues related to the consistent development of Armenia-France cooperation were discussed. |