Yesterday vies for Oscar honour

2005-01-25 19:24

Beverly Hills - Human tragedy pervaded the nominations for the 2005 best foreign-language film Oscar on Tuesday, with South Africa's Yesterday and Spain's The Sea Inside leading the way.

France's submission, Les Choristes, Germany's Downfall and As It Is In Heaven, from Sweden's Kay Pollak, were also in the exclusive line-up of five Academy Award hopefuls.

Spain's entry is directed by Alejandro Amenabar and tells the story of a paralysed man (Javier Bardem) who wants to commit suicide. It won the jury grand prize Silver Lion award at the Venice film festival.

Yesterday, written and directed by Darrell Roodt, tells of a young mother who discovers that she is HIV-positive in the one of the countries that is worst-hit by the Aids scourge.

Oliver Hirschbiegel's Downfall controversially recreates the last 10 days of the life of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

France's submission, Les Choristes by Christophe Barratier, tells the story of a group of reform schoolboys having their lives in post-war France changed by a choir-master and was a major hit in its home country.

The nomination is the 33rd for France in the foreign-language category, a record for any country in the Oscars' 77-year history, putting it far ahead of Italy, which has had 26 nominations.

If Barratier's film wins the statuette, France will have tied Italy's record of 10 Oscar victories in the foreign-film section.

As It Is In Heaven is the story of a famous musical conductor who retired anonymously to his hometown after a near-fatal heart-attack and rebuilt his life.

The films were among 49 non-English-language films that qualified for the Oscars.

- AFP