Gianni Fiorito/Netflix; Samuel Goldwyn Films; EF Neon; Neon; Janus Films
There’s one category among the Oscar nominations that already includes five bona fide winners: best international feature film. Lest that elicit eye rolls or sighs of subtitled boredom, let me assure you that none of this year’s nominated films are remotely staid or pretentious “foreign cinema.” From Denmark to Japan and the Kingdom of Bhutan, the five nominated finalists are already among the most vibrant, electric and moving films of the year.
Like an outdated beauty pageant’s prequalifying regional competition, they first defeated their fellow nationals to earn their submission. Then, they were winnowed down into longlists and shortlists. But two years since Parasite’s triumph at the Oscars, winning both best picture and best international feature, several of this year’s nominees have also broken boundaries to become fully integrated competitors in multiple categories. Flee from Denmark is the first film ever to be nominated for best documentary, animated feature and international feature film. Drive My Car from Japan is nominated for best picture, director and adapted screenplay. Norway’s Worst Person in the World is among the original screenplay nominees. Yet the stigma and centrality of their “foreignness” remains.
The five nominated films for best international feature film have no legitimate artistic reason to be measured against each other for one Oscar. Their only qualification (and misfortune) to be judged this way is their non-Englishness. In the extraordinary new age of subtitled streaming and globalized filmmaking, this is a category that is becoming a caricature of itself as a relic of the past. Cinema today deserves better than an award for “best global miscellanea.”
I acknowledge I’m biased; this has always been my favorite category among the Oscars. I’ve reported on many of the nominees and filmmakers over the years for NPR, and have always loved the sense of discovery that accompanies the creativity happening outside Hollywood. On a personal note, I’m also one among millions of immigrant Americans who grew up speaking multiple languages and seamlessly toggling between films from Bollywood to Sundance. This kind of viewing has never been easier and more widespread than in this age of (mostly) boundary-free Netflix. The success of Squid Game and its concurrent release and binging across continents is just one recent example.
That said, the Oscar for best international feature film is still usually stuffed into lesser hours of the ceremony and rarely covered as breathlessly as the higher-profile and more glamorous awards for categories like best Actor or actress. But what happens when we finally have a film culture that’s becoming more inclusive of difference, of representation and of a…
Read More: Why the Oscars’ best international feature film category should be nixed : NPR