Oscar retains language barrier

Winning a Golden Globe award is often a predictor of Academy Award success. This year, however, that won’t be true of at least one category: best foreign language film.

Clint Eastwood took home that trophy Monday night for his Japanese-language “Letters From Iwo Jima.” The American production won’t even be on the shortlist when Oscar nominations are announced Tuesday: The academy requires foreign language films to be truly foreign.

That’s one of the controversial rules surrounding the award that’s been given to “8½” and “Day for Night” — but not “Ran” or “Europa, Europa.”

Those omissions aren’t the academy’s fault, however. Their respective countries did not submit them for Oscar consideration. The behind-the-scenes process that takes place in each country can be as fraught with contention as the Oscars themselves.

This year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invited 83 countries to submit films for best foreign language film consideration. That includes two countries never asked before, the former Soviet republics Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. In all, 102 different countries have nominated films since the award was established in 1956. A record 61 countries took the academy up on its offer this year; just five will receive nominations in advance of the Feb. 25 ceremony.

Each country can submit one film. The only academy rule is that the committee making the selection should include artists working in film.

Germany is one of only 16 countries that has had a film in competition every year for the past 15 years. The Munich-based German Films Service + Marketing GmbH organizes and coordinates the selection. German Films’ USA/East Coast and Canada Representative Oliver Mahrdt explains that the decision is made by a committee made up of representatives from nine associations: Association of New German Film Producers, German Federal Film Board, Association of German Film Exporters, Association of Film Critics, Association of Film Directors, Association of Directors of Photography, Association of Cinema Owners, Association of Film Distributors and Association of New Feature Film Producers.

Each group elects a member, who doesn’t get paid for the work of seeing all submitted films. “Each representative is not allowed to have any connection to any of the submitted films, which guarantees the representative is impartial,” Mr. Mahrdt says. “It is imperative that the selected film has at least five votes from nine possible.”

“The Lives of Others” is this year’s selection. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s powerful debut about a high-ranking Stasi officer in 1984 East Berlin who comes to doubt his work while spying on an artist couple received a Golden Globe nomination. “It was an easy pick, because the film had an impressive ‘pedigree’ with awards from international film festivals, a U.S. distributor in place, great European box office results and numerous invitations to U.S. festivals,” Mr. Mahrdt reports.

Mr. Mahrdt says there’s no dispute over Germany’s process. “There is no controversy in the procedure, since every producer can submit his film, as long as the film qualifies according to the rules of the academy,” he says.

Perhaps that’s true for Germany, but other countries have certainly courted controversy.

“There’s definite politicking going on,” reports Anthony Kaufman, a freelance writer on foreign film for Variety, indieWIRE, and the Wall Street Journal online. “There are two opposing things going on in these voting bodies. One is they want a film which represents what they like about their country, putting their best face forward. And then there’s the politics of nominating something they think Americans will like.”

Sometimes those two desires clash.

“One of the most notable examples is [Spanish filmmaker Pedro] Almodovar. He’s had his moment in the sun many times, so he’s been overlooked many years because he’s already so well known. The voting body sometimes gives another filmmaker a chance,” Mr. Kaufman says. “Almodovar is not as loved in Spain as he is in America.”

Mr. Almodovar’s 2002 film “Talk to Her” was snubbed by Spain — but went on to win the filmmaker a best screenplay Oscar and a best director nomination. His “Volver” was submitted this year.

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