Barroso looking to redeem Doomed Love in Hollywood

by Vitor Pinto

30/09/2009 - Portuguese film institute ICA has chosen Mário Barroso's second feature Doomed Love as the country's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. The film was chosen among all the Portuguese titles released locally between October 2008 and September 2009.

Barroso – whose directorial debut The Miracle According to Salomé was also submitted for the Academy Award nominations in 2005 – has adapted a 19th century literary Portuguese classic, written by Camilo de Castelo Branco. Tomás Alves, who makes his film debut in Doomed Love, and Ana Moreira (a regular in Teresa Villaverde’s films) play Simão and Teresa in this tragic love story transposed to contemporary times in Carlos Saboga’s script.

Produced by Paulo Branco for Clap Filmes in co-production with Brazil's Plateau Produções, Doomed Love was released in April by Atalanta Filmes.

The Oscar nominees will be announced on February 2, 2010 and the Academy Awards ceremony will be held in L.A.'s Kodak Theatre on March 7.