In the last several weeks, there has been a considerable amount of discourse on Film Twitter about the recent nominations for the Actor Awards (formerly known as the SAG Awards). Despite the fact that many pundits widely predicted nominations for those international films (Sentimental Value alone was expected to receive between three and four nominations), only English-language performances were recognized. The next day, the Directors Guild of America similarly failed to nominate non-English language films.
These snubs, unfortunately, indicate that American voters either did not bother to watch these subtitled movies or have developed some sort of aversion to them. The avoidance of international films makes the awards season this year a painfully inaccurate reflection of the best in contemporary cinema. If voters can’t get over the fact that the English language is not the center of the universe at a time when global cinema is stronger than ever, then they shouldn’t have the privilege of voting for these ceremonies at all.
The International Contenders This Awards Season
Never in my lifetime as an awards season devotee have there been three Best Picture contenders from outside the U.S with realistic chances at getting that coveted nomination. As the season was beginning in December, it seemed like these critically acclaimed films were all likely to be nominated in multiple top categories, but now their fate seems to be in jeopardy.
The safest contender seems to be Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, a family drama from Norway about an actress’s fractured relationship with her father. Sentimental Value won a Golden Globe last Sunday for Stellan Skarsgård and was the only foreign language film to show up on the Producers Guild of America’s nomination list for Best Picture. Both of these achievements demonstrate that at least some American voters have been able to embrace this film.
However, could this strength only be possible because out of these international contenders, Sentimental Value is the only one that has a bit of English in it? It also has the added bonus of having recognizable faces in the cast like Skarsgård and Elle Fanning. It would be hard not to believe this to be the distinguishing factor if Sentimental Value ends up getting into Best Picture while the other films are left off the list.
Still, even with those few English language scenes, Sentimental Value’s Best Picture nomination is not secure, especially after the Actor Awards completely ignored the film’s ensemble. The absence of those actors did not go unnoticed on social media. New York Film Critics Circle member Tomris Laffly even went so far as to rhetorically ask, “can these guys, like, not read?” before calling the snub “truly embarrassing.”
The next film that has a shot at sneaking into Best Picture is Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, a Brazilian political thriller set during the country’s military dictatorship in the 1970s. That film received a much-needed boost at the Golden Globes this past Sunday when its star, Wagner Moura, picked up one of the ceremony’s Best Actor awards.
Still, The Secret Agent has an uphill battle ahead. It did not receive any nominations from the American guilds and was even ignored by the British Academy, which can be a helpful predictor for the Oscars. What might help the film moving forward into Oscar voting is the combination of Moura’s Golden Globes win and the film’s topical themes.
But being topical is not enough for every film. If that were the case, Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident would be faring much better. Despite winning the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, which is the same prize that last year’s Best Picture winner Anora won, Panahi’s film went home empty handed at both the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes. Panahi even has a sympathetic narrative that few directors can match, having served multiple prison sentences for making films that call out the injustices of the current Iranian regime. He is due to serve another year-long prison sentence for this film when he returns to his home country. It Was Just an Accident should be the kind of subject matter that a progressive Hollywood voting body would support. All it would take is for more American voters to step outside their comfort zones and watch this important film that just so happens to be spoken in Farsi.
Will the Academy Correct These Mistakes?
After Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite won four Academy Awards in 2020, it seemed like the tide was turning, and for a while there, it was. However, now that there are multiple foreign films in serious contention this year, it’s possible that these contenders are canceling each other out at these major precursor ceremonies. Yes, it’s wild to think that some voters cannot make a distinction among Norwegian, Brazilian, and Iranian films, but that seems to be what is happening this season.
The question that remains is whether or not the Academy will rectify these snubs by giving each of these films a fair shot. Though I have always been wary of the Academy, I do maintain hope that the new international contingent of their voting body will right the wrongs of these more American-centric awards groups. After all, there are ten slots for Best Picture. Even if all three of these films manage to appear on the list, the majority of the nominees will still be English-language films. To that end, three foreign films making it in shouldn’t be that groundbreaking.
Cinema is a global art form and that should be reflected in the medium’s highest honors. For better or worse, the Academy Awards are among the only ways to reflect on the best of film in a given year. That’s not the best in American film, that’s the best in film overall. American Academy members need to recognize the global nature of cinema when they are casting their votes this month. Despite these worrisome hiccups throughout the season, I still remain optimistic that in the end, they will do the right thing.
via @inter_presse / @mubi / @hennethed
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