Seediq Bale shortlisted for Oscars

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Awards News

Taiwan aborigine epic Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale 賽德克・巴萊 is among nine films shortlisted as contenders for best foreign language film at the Academy Awards. It is the only East Asian film to make it this far.

Some 63 films from around the world had been submitted by national organisations by the 3 Oct 2011 deadline. The remaining nine will be reduced to just five nominees over the next few days. These will be announced on 24 Jan 2012.

The long list decision notably eliminates The Flowers of War 金陵十三釵. The high-profile, Christian BALE-starring film had a token China release in Sep 2011 and selected its North American distributor with an eye clearly on the Oscars race.

Having had a platform release in the US in December, Flowers may still pick up nominations in other categories, though it will have to compete with Hollywood fare that is more visible to Academy voters.

Iran's A Separation Jodaeiye Nader az Simin, which won the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) in Nov 2011 and this week picked up five nominations in Hong Kong's Asian Film Awards, remains in the hunt – for the next five days at least.

To meet Academy regulations, the lengthy two-part version of Seediq Bale — released in Taiwan as Warriors of the Rainbow I: Sun Flag 賽德克・巴萊：太陽旗 and Warriors of the Rainbow II: Rainbow Bridge 賽德克・巴萊：彩虹橋 — was submitted.

The production company, ARS Film Production 果子電影有限公司, released the second part on 30 Sep 2011 after confirming with the Academy that the last-minute date did not exclude it from consideration.

Together the two films made approximately NT$333 million ($11.1 million) in Taipei, and a little more than double that nationwide. The disappointing box office meant that the company has not been able to stage a large-scale Oscar campaign.

The films have an official budget of NT$700 million ($23.4 million). A representative of the production company is flying to New York this evening to bring an additional print for east coast screenings.

Director WEI Te-sheng 魏德聖 told Film Business Asia, "I am really excited and couldn't sleep after getting the news in the middle of the night. I hope that everyone in Taiwan can give us their blessing and wish us the best of luck."

If Seediq Bale wins in its category, Wei and the film's producers will be eligible for two NT$10 million ($334,000) bounties from the Taiwan government, given for wins at major international awards ceremonies.

Ang LEE 李安 received NT$20 million ($668,000) after the Venice success of Lust, Caution 色，戒 (2007). The money was primarily used to finance Yang Yang 陽陽 (2009), produced by his brother Khan LEE 李崗.

The Academy Awards ceremony will be held on 26 Feb 2012.

 
2011 FOREIGN-LANGUAGE OSCARS SHORTLIST — 18 JAN 2012

• Belgium: Bullhead, dir. Michael R. Roskam
• Canada: Monsieur Lazhar, dir. Philippe Falardeau
• Denmark: Superclásico, dir. Ole Christian Madsen
• Germany: Pina, dir. Wim Wenders
• Iran,: A Separation, dir. Asghar Farhadi
• Israel: Footnote, dir. Joseph Cedar
• Morocco: Omar Killed Me, dir. Roschdy Zem
• Poland: In Darkness, dir. Agnieszka Holland
• Taiwan: Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, dir. Wei Te-sheng

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