The official Polish candidate for the Oscar “The Peasants”, directed by DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman, is outside the “short list” of titles that have a chance to be nominated in the best international film category. In the best feature-length documentary film category, “From Where to Where” by Maciek Hamela and “Apolonia, Apolonia” by Lea Glob will have a chance to win an Oscar.
Oscars 2024 is getting closer and the race for awards is gaining momentum. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (also known as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, AMPAS) on Thursday published short lists of film titles that will be considered in the nomination process.
The Academy announced “shortlists” of titles in 10 categories, including best international film. In this category, Polish cinematography was represented by a film “Peasants” DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman, but he was not among the 15 further qualified.
There is, however, an American-British-Polish production “Zone of interests” Jonathan Glazer, who represents Great Britain. This is Glazer’s first full-length feature film in 10 years, i.e. since the famous “Under the Skin” with Scarlett Johansson in the main role. “Business Zone” is a shocking story about a home idyll in the shadow of the crematoria, i.e. the family life of the commandant of the German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, Rudolf Hoess, and his wife Hedwig. The main roles were played by Sandra Hueller and Christian Friedel. The author of the photos for “Strefa biznes” is Łukasz Żal, who has a good chance of being nominated for another Oscar. The co-producer of the film is Ewa Puszczyńska.
Apart from “Business Zone”, the “shortlist” also included other titles mentioned as favorites, including: “Snow Brotherhood” (Spain), “Staff room” (Germany), “Bullion and other passions” (France), “I, Captain” (Italy), “Perfect Days” (Japan) and “Falling Leaves (Finland).
Sandra Hueller in the movie “Business Zone”©Courtesy of A24/Mica Levi/Gutek Film
Oscars 2024. Two Polish documentaries with a chance for nominations
In the best feature-length documentary film category: two Polish co-productions: : “From where to where” Maciek Hameli and “Apolonia, Apolonia” Lei Glob (the film’s co-producer is HBO Max Central Europe – owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of TVN Warner Bros. Discovery Polska). The Polish producer of this documentary is Małgorzata Staroń (Staron Film). It is a moving portrait of a Polish artist growing up in Paris – Apolonia Sokół.
This Danish-Polish-French story was created for about 13 years. Looking at Sokół, Glob captured the changing world, showing various faces of femininity, building relationships and following dreams in a capitalist and patriarchal reality.
The film “Apolonia, Apolonia” had its world premiere as part of the main competition of the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA) – the largest and most prestigious documentary film festival in the world – in November last year. Since then, the film Glob has become a festival hit.
“Apolonia, Apolonia” dir. Lea GlobMillenium Docs Against Gravity
“From Where to Where” is the directorial debut of Maciek Hamela. Born in the early 1980s, Hamela graduated in French literature from the Sorbonne (Paris IV). While studying film directing at the École Internationale de Création Audiovisuelle et de Réalisation (EICAR), he worked on construction sites, as a tour guide in Paris and at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thanks to this, he speaks French, English, Ukrainian and Russian fluently. His linguistic skills helped him in his volunteer activities in Ukraine. Without communication problems, he could not only provide transport, but also shelter and accommodation to those who boarded his van. In total, it transported 400 people. At some point, the idea was born to start recording this several-month-long journey through Ukraine. This is, in a nutshell, the background to the creation of the documentary “From Where to Where?” An outstanding film.
“From where to where” is a combination of the Ukrainian words “from where / звідки / zvidky” “where to / куди / kudy” – two words routinely thrown out by officers at numerous checkpoints that Hamela passed along his way, accompanied by passengers. To be clear: this is not a movie about Hamela. He appears in the frame as a driver, asking his passengers about their war and pre-war fate.
Conversations about dreams, plans and the search for a safe shelter are mixed with testimonies of brutal torture by the Russians, whose victims fall on everyone: young, old, men, women. As one of the characters in the film says: they torture everyone, girls, grandmothers and even children. On board Hamela’s car, the people whom the Varsovian managed to reach, the landscapes and the weather change. What remains unchanged or common to passengers are the visibly tired faces of people full of fear, pain and a sense of uncertainty.
“From where to where” – a Polish documentary about helping Ukrainians at the Cannes festival. “At first I was a volunteer”Ewelina Witenberg/Fakty po Południu TVN24
Oscars 2024. Short lists of titles and creators with a chance for nominations (selected categories)
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
- “Zone of interests” (Great Britain)
- “Bouillon and other passions” (France)
- “Snow Brotherhood” (Spain)
- “Teachers’ room” (Germany)
- “Falling Leaves” (Finland)
- “The Monk and the Gun” (Bhutan)
- “Totem” (Mexico)
- “Perfect Days” (Japan)
- “The Bastard” (Denmark)
- “20 days in Mariupol” (Ukraine)
- “I, Captain” (Italy)
- “Godland” (Iceland)
- “The Mother of All Lies” (Morocco)
- “Amerikatsi” (Armenia)
- “Four Daughters” (Tunisia)
Still from Matteo Garrone’s film “Io Capitano”Film Festival Venice
BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY FILM
- “Jon Batiste: American Symphony”
- “Apolonia, Apolonia”
- “Escape from Utopia”
- “Bobi Wine: The Ghetto President”
- Hungry souls in the big city. The Legend of ‘Midnight Cowboy’
- “La memoria infinita”
- “Four Daughters”
- “Going to Mars”
- “From where to where””
- “Determined in advance”
- “Relentlessly: The Michael J. Fox Story”
- “A Still Small Voice”
- “32 sounds”
- “To Kill a Tiger”
- “20 days in Mariupol”
“Apolonia, Apolonia” dir. Lea GlobMillenium Docs Against Gravity
BEST SHORT FILM
- “Later”
- “The Anne Frank Gift Shop”
- “Um Caroço de Abacate”
- “Bienvenidos a Los Angeles”
- “Dead Cat”
- “Good Boy”
- “Invincible”
- “Die unsichtbare Grenze”
- “Knight of Fortune”
- “The One Note Man”
- “Red, White and Blue”
- “Shepherd”
- “Strange Paths of Life”
- “The Amazing Story of Henry Sugar”
- “Yellow”
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM
- “The ABCs of Book Banning”
- “The Barber of Little Rock”
- “Bear”
- “Between Earth & Sky”
- “Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games”
- “Courage Camp”
- “Deciding Vote”
- “How We Get Free”
- “If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis”
- “Island in Between”
- “The Last Repair Shop”
- “Last Song from Kabul”
- “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó”
- “Oasis”
- “Wings of Dust”
“The Time of the Blood Moon” dir. Martin Scorsese
BEST SONG FOR THE FILM
- “It Never Went Away” from “Jon Batiste: American Symphony”
- “Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven)” from “Asteroid City”
- “Dance The Night” from “Barbie”
- “I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
- “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”
- “Keep It Movin’” from “The Color Purple”
- “Superpower (I)” from “The Color Purple”
- “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot: Taste of Success”
- “High Life” from “Flora and Son”
- “Meet In The Middle” from “Flora & Son”
- “Can’t Catch Me Now” from “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Birds and Snakes”
- “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Blood Moon Time”
- “Quiet Eyes” from “A Previous Life”
- “Road To Freedom” from “Rustin”
- “Am I Dreaming” from “Spider-Man: Through the Multiverse”
Barbie movie trailerWarner Bros. Pictures
- Laura Karpman “American Fiction”
- Jon Batiste “Jon Batiste: American Symphony”
- Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt “Barbie”
- Joe Hisaishi “The Boy and the Heron”
- Kris Bowers “The Color Purple”
- Thomas Newman “The Elements Between Us”
- Mark Orton “Winter Solstice”
- John Williams “Indiana Jones and the Artifact of Destiny”
- Robbie Robertson “The Time of the Blood Moon”
- Ludwig Göransson “Oppenheimer”
- Jerskin Fendrix “Poor Creatures”
- Anthony Willis “Saltburn”
- Michael Giacchino “Snow Brotherhood”
- Daniel Pemberton “Spider-Man: Through the Multiverse”
- Mica Levy “Business Zone”
Main photo source: Al Seib / ©AMPAS