Or at least the Academy Awards has decided to start following its own rules for foreign films. Paradise Now nominated for best foreign language film. I’m sure it had to do with the January 14 post.

Still, it’s a marked change from the Academy’s previous stance. From a MIFTA.org article about Cannes winner Divine Intervention:

When the producer of [Divine Intervention], Hmbert Balsam, spoke with (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) AMPAS’ executive director Davis Bruce in October 2002, he was told that the film from Palestine would not be eligible to compete in the Academy Awards. “As the producer of Divine Intervention, he [Balsan] asked the Academy if the film could run for best foreign language picture. The answer of the Academy was no, Palestine is not a state we recognize in our rules.” However, AMPAS’ published rules make no mention of the requirement that a country needs a particular status to qualify, and there is little doubt that the rejection of the film by the Academy was politically motivated.

You can still see it before Oscar night, by ordering it here. I keep a penny jar at Amazon’s corporate heaquarters and everytime somoene buys something from a link off this site, Jeff Bezos drops some change in when he walks by. That’s the power of the interweb!

Here’s a story about the filmmaker on nomination day.

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