As more and more international films gain popularity in various Oscar categories, it seems as though the once dominant Italian and French film industries are reexamining their approach to nominating their films. Italy hasn’t been able to take home an Oscar since 2013 when La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) won Best International Feature Film, and France hasn’t won an Oscar since Régis Wargnier’s Indochine in distant 1993.
While Italy begins to have a national discussion on the nomination process, last summer France completely overhauled its nomination system and now requires a meeting with the US distributors of the nominees before making the final selection. “We did change the rules for this year, and I can assure you, it is very fair,” Daniela Elstner, Executive Director of Unifrance, told TFV. The French committee is organized by the CNC (Centre National du Cinéma et de L’image Animée).
In Germany the selection procedures are organized and implemented by German Films, which doesn’t sit on the selection committee. The German committee members are selected by the unions and the German Film Academy, who also have seats on the committee. German Films’ Simone Baumann told TFV in a separate interview that all of the nine committee members selected this year happened to be women. “This happened by chance,” she said. Their selection, All Quiet on The Western Front, ended up garnering 9 nominations this year.
The Italian selection is made by a committee whose members are chosen by ANICA, Italy’s motion picture association, among whom are the industry’s top names, including producers, directors, distributors, and journalists. Roberto Stabile, ANICA’s head of international relations, would like to see “clearer and more structured support” from the Ministry of Culture for the Oscars campaign. “Every year, the producer [of the selected film] must first find the money for the campaign and then figure out how to do it,” he said.
Minerva Pictures’ Gianluca Curti agrees that there is now “enormous competition” from relative newcomers in Asia, Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe. But he also disagrees with the selections made by the Italian committees over the past decade, adding that Italy produces two or three great movies each year, which unfortunately, never make it to the Academy Awards.
Piera Detassis, president of the prestigious David di Donatello awards – considered Italy’s own Oscar equivalent, told TFV that she agrees that the selection, which takes place in late November, is made too late to allow for the organization of a proper campaign.
A possible solution suggested by Stabile includes an overhaul of the committee, the selection process, and the rules governing them; greater attention be paid to the film’s strengths in the international markets, especially when it comes to US distribution; a more concerted effort to lobby the voters in Italy and abroad; greater support from the Ministry of Culture starting on the day the film is selected; an earlier date for the selection, and “a good dose of luck.”
–Caren Davidkhianan