71 COUNTRIES SUBMIT FOREIGN OSCAR ENTRIES — IRAN NOT AMONG THEM

Iran has made good on its threat to boycott next year’s Academy Awards to protest the Academy’s silence regarding the anti-Islamic video, Innocence of Muslims. Although its planned entry, Reza Mirkarimi’s A Cube of Sugar, was regarded as a probable strong contender for the best foreign language award, it did not appear on the list […]

IRANIAN OSCAR WINNER: ABOVE POLITICS?

Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, which won the best foreign language Oscar Sunday night, has become a huge hit in Israel, a country that regards Iran as its most dangerous enemy, the Associated Press reported on Sunday. The wire service quoted Yair Raveh, film critic for Israel’s Pnai Plus entertainment magazine, as saying, “It’s […]

RUSSIAN FILMMAKERS ANGRY OVER COUNTRY’S OSCAR SELECTION

A move is underway in Russia to overhaul the committee that nominates the film to represent the country in the best foreign language competition at the annual Oscar race. It follows widespread controversy over the selection of Nikita Mikhalkov’s Burnt by the Sun: The Citadel, as this year’s entry despite the fact that the film […]