LA Screenings Create a Buzz for European Oscar® Submissions EFP spotlights 27 European films for the 88th Academy Awards - Albania and Latvia participate for the first time
The race has already started ahead of time, long before the list of submissions to the 88th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film has been officially announced. It's a tough race, which is why European Film Promotion (EFP) is gathering the efforts of most of its member countries to help their national Academy Award entries generate as much attention as possible in this Award season.
EFP's LA Screenings series this year includes a record number of 27 European titles among a total line-up of 81 Oscar® submissions in this category. Having started with the screenings eight years ago, EFP is now seeing more than two thirds of the European countries (36 in total this year) using the extra presentation and promotion it offers. Since most of the films are still available for the US market, distributors and international buyers are invited to the screenings along with the Academy members, who are offered an extra screening window in their tough schedule.
The LA Screenings are held from October 25 to November 8 at the Wilshire Screening Room in Beverly Hills. The campaign is financially supported by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union and the participating EFP member organisations.
Many of these European films stood out at festivals and have been feted by critics and audiences around the globe. They now enter a new level of competition in LA. Some of them will be presented by their talent in person in order to give the films more of a spotlight and support the buzz.
Latvia and Albania will be participating in the LA Screenings for the first time. Latvia will be represented by Modris by Juris Kursietis and Albania by Bota by Iris Elezi and Thomas Logoreci.
After the terrific success with Oscar® winner Ida by Paweł Pawlikowski, the Polish Film Institute will be joining EFP again at the LA Screenings, this year with 11 Minutes by Jerzy Skolimowski. "Ida’s success has opened many doors for us but also has arisen the expectations from the international industry”, comments Izabela Kiszka-Hoflik, Head of International Relations at the Polish Film Institute. “I’m proud and happy our submission this year confirms that Polish cinema is strong, vibrant, and up to date."
The line-up also includes the Kosovar submission Babai by Visar Morina, Portugal's Arabian Nights II by Miguel Gomes, the Czech Republic's Home Care by Slávek Horák, Belgium's The Brand New Testament by Jaco Van Dormael and Romania's Aferim! by Radu Jude.
The LA Screenings in are supported by the following EFP member organisations:
Albanian Center of Cinematography, Bulgarian National Film Center, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Czech Film Center, Estonian Film Institute, EYE International (The Netherlands), Film Center Serbia, Film Fund Luxembourg, Finnish Film Foundation, Georgian National Film Center, Greek Film Centre, ICA (Portugal), ICAA (Spain), Istituto Luce Cinecittà (Italy), Irish Film Board, Kosova Cinematography Center, Lithuanian Film Centre, Macedonian Film Agency, Ministry of Culture of Montenegro, National Film Centre of Latvia, Polish Film Institute, Romanian Film Promotion, Slovak Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute, Swiss Films, Wallonie Bruxelles Images
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