Festival hit Monsiuer Lazhar to represent Canada in Oscar race

For Canada, Quebecois writer-director Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar will be the submission for the foreign language Oscar race. Telefilm Canada announced the submission of the film, which just won the City of Toronto award for Best Canadian feature at the Toronto International Film Festival. It also won the audience award in Locarno.

The French-language film is about an Algerian refugee in Montreal who becomes a teacher.

Several other countries have also announced their entrants for the Oscar race:

From Brazil, Jose Padilha’s Elite Squad 2 beat out 14 other entrants. The sequel to the Berlinale winning 2008 hit is about a policeman fighting corruption in Rio.

From Slovakia, there is Martin Sulik’s Gypsy, which won awards in Karlovy Vary and also recently played in Toronto. That is a coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old Roma boy.

From Vietnam, there is Luu Trong Ninh’s Thang Long Aspiration, about the Le Dynasty in the Ninth Century.

From Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is Ahmed Imamovic’s Belvedere, about the aftermath of the Srebenica massacre.

From the Philippines, the entrant is Marlon Rivera’s The Woman In A Septic Tank, a film industry satire.

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Wendy Mitchell
Head of News, Screen International and ScreenDaily.com
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