Films that didn’t play in theaters now eligible for Academy Awards

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences adjusted its eligibility rules for the Academy Awards to include films that didn’t play in theaters, according to Variety. The board of governors convened Tuesday to approve the temporary hold on the mandate that a movie needs to run for seven days in a commercial Los Angeles theater to qualify for the Oscars. While digital releases will be eligible, the streamed picture must have already had a planned theatrical release, in addition to being made available on the Academy Screening Room member-only site within sixty days.

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The ten films that made the Academy Award for Best International Feature shortlist

Back in May, Mati Diop became the first black woman to compete for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for her Atlantics (2019), which lost to Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite (2019), but won the Grand Prix; if Parasite or Atlantics are nominated at the Oscars, they will be the first for South Korea and Senegal, respectively. (Image Courtesy: The Seattle Times).

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday their Best International Feature shortlist, the name for the category having been changed from “Best Foreign Language Film,” according to The Seattle Times. The ten shortlisted movies are: Václav Marhoul’s The Painted Bird (2019, the Czech Republic); Tanel Toom’s Truth and Justice (2019, Estonia); Ladj Ly’s Les Misérables (2019, France); Barnabas Toth’s Those Who Remained (2019, Hungary); Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov’s Honeyland (2019, North Macedonia); Jan Komasa’s Corpus Christi (2019, Poland); Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole (2019, Russia); Mati Diop’s Atlantics (2019, Senegal); Bong Joon-ho’s  Parasite (2019, South Korea); and Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory (2019, Spain). The nominees for the Ninety-Second Academy Awards will be announced January 13, and the ceremony will be held February 9 in Los Angeles.