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BERLIN – Norway’s Oscar nominating committee has drawn up its short list for next year’s foreign language race, narrowing its initial lineup of contenders to three films.
They are Arild Ostin Ommundsen’s It’s Only Make Believe, Iram Haq’s I Am Yours and Erik Skjoldbjsarg’s Pioneer.
It’s Only Make Believe follows the return of a young woman who has spent 10 years in prison for the murder of two people, including her boyfriend, during a robbery. It bowed in Norway on March 22 via distributor Action Film and will have its international premiere at the World Film Festival in Montreal this weekend.
I Am Yours, which was released in Norway Aug. 16 by SF Norge and screens in Toronto next week, is a romance about a young, single mother looking for true love who falls for a Swedish man not ready to commit to family life.
Pioneer is a thriller set during Norway’s deep sea oil rush of the 1980s and stars Aksel Hennie (Headhunter) as a professional diver. He is obsessed with his life-threatening job of diving to the bottom of the Norwegian Sea, but investigating the sudden death of one of his colleagues, he uncovers a conspiracy involving big oil and the Norwegian government. Pioneer opened the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund and will be screened as a special presentation in Toronto.
The short list trio were selected by a committee of seven representatives of the Norwegian film industry and the Norwegian Film Institute.
Norway had its first Oscar-nominated film in more than a decade this year when the adventure drama Kon-Tiki from directors Espen Sandberg and Joachim Ronning made the final list of foreign language nominees. Norway has never won the Oscar.
The country’s candidate for the 2014 best foreign language prize will be announced Sept. 20. The five nominations for the Oscar race will be announced on Jan. 16. The 86th Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 2.
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