{"id":7103,"date":"2017-02-22T14:38:26","date_gmt":"2017-02-22T14:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.3.178\/?p=7103"},"modified":"2017-02-22T14:39:05","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T14:39:05","slug":"a-brief-history-of-the-oscars-best-foreign-language-film-category","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicmagpie.co.uk\/blog\/2017\/02\/22\/a-brief-history-of-the-oscars-best-foreign-language-film-category\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of The Oscars’ Best Foreign Language Film Category"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next week, the results for the 89th<\/sup> Academy Awards will be in. So before we get to today\u2019s topic, I\u2019ll just give a brief summary of my predictions. La La Land<\/em> to sweep, Manchester by the Sea<\/em>, Moonlight<\/em>, Fences<\/em>, Zootropolis<\/em>, Jackie<\/em>, O.J.: Made in America<\/em>, The Jungle Book <\/em>and Toni Erdmann<\/em> get their share of the prizes La La Land<\/em> doesn\u2019t get.<\/p>\n

And speaking of Toni Erdmann<\/em>, let\u2019s talk about the category of Best Foreign Language Film. Not a lot of people, other than cinephiles like me, seem to acknowledge this category, unless something major shows up on the outside. So today, we at musicMagpie are going to change all that and give you an informative overview of the Oscar category Best Foreign Language Film.<\/p>\n

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HISTORY<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Over the years since its inception, AMPAS has acknowledged countless foreign language pictures. The most prominent examples of their acknowledgement of foreign exports are the amount of recognition La Grande Illusion<\/em> received at the 1939 Academy Awards and the copious amount of screenwriting nominations given to the early films of Italian Neorealism (like the first two instalments of Roberto Rossellini\u2019s War trilogy). While we\u2019re on the subject of Italian Neorealism, this leads us directly to the birth of the Best Foreign Language Film category. At the 20th<\/sup> Academy Awards, Vittorio De Sica\u2019s Shoeshine<\/em> was presented with a special award for the following reason:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe high quality of this motion picture, brought to eloquent life in a country scarred by war, is proof to the world that the creative spirit can triumph over adversity.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

From that moment on, at each ceremony, the Board of Governors would hand out an honorary award for the best feature not in the English language to be released in the United States (sometimes a year or two later than their national release). They were:<\/p>\n

Monsieur Vincent<\/em> (Maurice Cloche, 1947)<\/p>\n

Bicycle Thieves<\/em> (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)<\/p>\n

The Walls of Malapaga<\/em> (Ren\u00c3\u00a9 Cl\u00c3\u00a9ment, 1949)<\/p>\n

Rashomon<\/em> (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)<\/p>\n

Forbidden Games<\/em> (Ren\u00c3\u00a9 Cl\u00c3\u00a9ment, 1952)<\/p>\n

Gate of Hell<\/em> (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1953)<\/p>\n

Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto<\/em> (Hiroshi Inagaki, 1954)<\/p>\n

Then for the 29th<\/sup> Academy Awards, a new category honouring the best in foreign language cinema was officially created in the form of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.<\/p>\n

Among the first batch of nominees included Kon Ichikawa\u2019s anti-war picture The Burmese Harp<\/em> and the category\u2019s inaugural victor La Strada<\/em> by Federico Fellini.<\/p>\n