"Spitak" left off Best Foreign Language Film Oscar shortlistDecember 18, 2018 - 10:55 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - From a field of 87 submissions to the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar category, nine movies have now advanced to the shortlist. Among the films left off the list is "Spitak", a movie by Russian filmmaker Alexander Kott about the devastating earthquake that hit Armenia in 1988. At the center of the feature film is protagonist, Gor (Lernik Harutyunyan), who returns to Spitak, the city that was at the quake’s epicenter, to find his wife and daughter, who he left behind to pursue a new life in Moscow. What he finds are locals and their relatives struggling to find their loved ones — dead or alive — amid heaps of rubble, debris and bodies. Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” from Mexico, Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War” from Poland and Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum” from Lebanon were on the Oscars shortlist and are all favorites to be nominated. Also on the list, from Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Palme d’Or winning film “Shoplifters” and Lee Chang-dong’s South Korean film “Burning,” which stars Steven Yeun. Rounding out the list were Colombia’s “Birds of Passage,” Denmark’s thriller “The Guilty,” Germany’s “Never Look Away,” and Kazakhstan’s “Ayka.” Top stories Six total incidents have burned 19 old-growth trees. Friday night 8 trees were torched along the beautiful main entrance. The EU does not intend to conduct military exercises with Armenia, Lead Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano says. Hikmet Hajiyev has said that there is no place for USAID operation in Azerbaijan any longer. A telephone conversation between Putin and Pashinyan before the CSTO summit is not planned, Peskov says. 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. Armenia PM, France envoy discuss regional matters Issues related to the consistent development of Armenia-France cooperation were discussed. Azerbaijan razes historic Armenian church to ground Azerbaijan has demolished the historic Armenian Church of St. John the Baptist (known as Kanach Zham). |