17/09/2003

European cinema is preparing its lists of films to go forward to the Oscars. Spain is the first country in Europe to have already chosen three possible candidates for its nomination. The names of all films competing for the final shortlist of 5 works up for Best Foreign Film at the 76th edition of the Oscars in 2004, have to be sent in to the Academy Awards in Los Angeles by October 1, 2003.
The members of the Spanish Academy of Film Arts have decided to lighten their workload by making a pre-selection of three titles: South from Granada by Fernando Colomo, Hotel Danubio by Antonio Giménez-Rico and Soldiers of Salamina by David Trueba. The representatives from the three films haven’t hidden their enthusiasm about making it to the shortlist, even though there’s still everything to play for. The Academy will carry out a second vote at the end of the month to decide which of these three films will represent Spain at the Hollywood competition.

Out of the three films on the shortlist, only the work by Jimenez-Rico has not yet been released in Spain. In fact Spanish audiences will have the chance to see it from September 26. The films by Fernando Colomo and David Trueba, which were released in cinemas during the winter season, both had a successful run at the box office. Soldiers of Salamina was released on March 23, and in Spain alone it took €1.6m in just over 2 months, and it also won the Golden Swan award for the Best Screenplay at the Copenhagen International Film Festival. The other film, South from Granada, took more than €2.1m at the box office between January and March, 2003.

(Translated from Italian)