We knew it'd only be a matter of time before someone picked up Samuel Maoz's Lebanon, which won the Golden Lion at Venice a week ago, and Sony Pictures Classics were the winners of what was likely a bidding war. According to Variety, Israel has yet to announce their Academy Award submission yet, and it's between Lebanon and Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani's Ajami, which Kino recently acquired for a US release. SPC already has two titles in the running for Best Foreign-Language film in Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet; Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces will not be representing Spain in the foreign category, but look for a campaign for Penélope Cruz and Almodóvar's original screenplay... and, though it's probably a long-shot, Blanca Portillo in the Supporting Actress category.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sony Pictures Classics Takes Lebanon
We knew it'd only be a matter of time before someone picked up Samuel Maoz's Lebanon, which won the Golden Lion at Venice a week ago, and Sony Pictures Classics were the winners of what was likely a bidding war. According to Variety, Israel has yet to announce their Academy Award submission yet, and it's between Lebanon and Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani's Ajami, which Kino recently acquired for a US release. SPC already has two titles in the running for Best Foreign-Language film in Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet; Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces will not be representing Spain in the foreign category, but look for a campaign for Penélope Cruz and Almodóvar's original screenplay... and, though it's probably a long-shot, Blanca Portillo in the Supporting Actress category.
