iW NEWS | "The Band's Visit" Oscar Hopes Uncertain due to English Content

The Jerusalem Post is quoting an Israeli television report that Israel's submission for best foreign-language Oscar consideration, "The Band's Visit" -- which recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival -- has been disqualified from the race for "containing too much English-language dialogue." indieWIRE has attempted to gain independent confirmation from the film's U.S. distributor Sony Pictures Classics as well as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. A Sony Classics insider told indieWIRE tonight that the distributor is awaiting a discussion with the Academy on the pending matter. The issue was also addressed in indieWIRE's World Cinema column yesterday, written by Anthony Kaufman: Halfway across the world in Israel, there have been reports that "The Band's Visit" has too much English too qualify as a foreign-language film. But Sony Classics' Michael Barker is not bothered by the rumors. "Over the many years, there is always sour grapes," he says, especially among countries that have several strong contenders. Barker doesn't dispute there is English in "The Band's Visit." "But the story dictates that," he says. "It is keeping in a long tradition of foreign language films that have some English in them. Look at 'No Man's Land'; look at 'Four Days in September.'" [Brian Brooks]