As the 91st Academy Awards are approaching, Istanbul Modern Cinema offers a reminder of the entries for the “Best Foreign Language Film” category. Featuring a selection from the submissions from 87 countries cited to compete in the Oscar race, the program represents a category that brings together films from diverse cultures and languages, which were big hits in world festivals and, despite being Oscar-nominated, are outside the Hollywood track. The program includes Lee Chang-Dong’s poetic and mysterious film Burning (Beoning) based on a story by Haruki Murakami, as well as Lebanon’s candidate and Cannes Jury Prize-winner Capernaum helmed by Nadine Labaki. Also featured in the program are Ukraine’s entry Donbass by Sergei Loznitsa, who won the award for Best Director in Cannes’s Un Certain Regard category, and Belgium’s submission Girl, which focuses on Lara, a transgender teenager striving to become a ballerina.
SHOPLIFTERS (MANBIKI KAZOKU), 2018
Japan | DCP, Color, 121' | Japanese
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Cast: Lily Franky, Sakura Andô, Mayu Matsuoka
NEVER LOOK AWAY (WERK OHNE AUTOR), 2018
Germany | DCP, Color, 188' | German, Russian
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Cast: Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer
AYKA, 2018
Kazakhstan | DCP, Color, 100' | Russian, Kirghiz
Director: Sergei Dvortsevoy
Cast: Samal Yeslyamova, Aleksandr Zlatopolskiy
DONBASS, 2018
Ukraine | DCP, Color, 110' | Ukrainian, Russian
Director: Sergey Loznitsa
Cast: Boris Kamorzin, Valeriu Andriuta, Tamara Yatsenko
ELDORADO, 2018
Switzerland | DCP, Color, 90' | German, French, Italian
Director: Markus Imhoof
BIRDS OF PASSAGE (PÁJAROS DE VERANO), 2018
Columbia | DCP, Color, 125' | Wayuu, Spanish, English
Director: Cristina Gallego, Ciro Guerra
Cast: Natalia Reyes, Carmiña Martínez, José Acosta
CAPERNAUM (CAPHARNAÜM) 2018
Lebanon | DCP, Color, 120' | Arabic
Director: Nadine Labaki
Cast: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole
GIRL, 2018
Belgium | DCP, Color, 105' |French, Flemish
Director: Lukas Dhont
Cast: Victor Polster, Arieh Worthalter, Oliver Bodart
THE HEIRESSES (LAS HEREDERAS), 2018
Paraguay | DCP, Color, 95' | Spanish
Director: Marcelo Martinessi
Cast: Ana Brun, Margarita Irun, Ana Ivanova
THE CAKEMAKER, 2018
Israel | DCP, Color, 104' | Hebrew
Director: Ofir Raul Graizer
Cast: Tim Kalkhof, Sarah Adler, Roy Miller
ROMA, 2018
Mexico | DCP, Black & White, 135' | Spanish, English
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Cast: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey
COLD WAR (ZIMNA WOJNA), 2018
Poland, France, United Kingdom | DCP, Black-White, 88' | Polish, French, German
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Cast: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc
THE GUILTY (DEN SKYLDIGE), 2018
Denmark | DCP, Color, 85' | Danish
Director: Gustav Möller
Cast: Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Omar Shargawi
BURNING (BEONING), 2018
South Korea | DCP, Color, 148' | Korean, English
Director: Chang-dong Lee
Cast: Ah-in Yoo, Steven Yeun, Jong-seo Jun
WOMAN AT WAR (KONA FER Í STRÍÐ), 2018
Iceland | DCP, Color, 100' | Icelandic
Director: Benedikt Erlingsson
Cast: Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir, Jóhann Sigurðarson, Juan Camillo Roman Estrada