Record 55 films enter Oscar rate

Record 55 films enter Oscar rate

Agence France-Presse, Los Angeles, California

A record 55 movies entered the race to win nominations for next
year's best foreign film Oscar, including Palestinian, Mongolian
and Sri Lankan offers, organizers said on Monday.

Films from Afghanistan, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Hong Kong,
Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, Nepal and Iran were among those
submitted for consideration by voters of the Academy of Motion
Pictures Arts and Sciences.

The international haul of cinematographic offerings is the
largest ever submitted for the prestigious category, beating the
2003 total of 54 movies by one, and boasted three Oscar
newcomers.

"We have three countries this year that have films that have
qualified for the category for the first time -- Mongolia,
Palestine and Sri Lanka -- which is very exciting," said an
Academy source.

The Palestinian offering, Divine Intervention, by Elia
Suleiman was accepted despite some earlier speculation that the
Academy would not take the submission on the grounds that
Palestine is not a country.

The film, that took the jury prize at Cannes in 2002, tells
the politically-explosive story of life under Israeli occupation
told in vignettes of reality and fantasy.

Mongolia's entry was the Gobi desert-based documentary The
Story of the Weeping Camel, by directors Byambasuren Davaa and
Luigi Falorni, while Sri Lanka's entry is Mansion by the Lake by
director Lester James Peries.

Peries' movie tells of a widow's return to her home country
and house after spending years living in London, only to be faced
with painful old memories and new problems.

Afghanistan's entry is Osama by director Siddiq Barmak, which
won the top prize at Montreal's New Movie New Media Festival this
month, and tells the story of life in the war-torn country under
the Taliban regime.

Hong Kong offered Internal Affairs by Andre Lau and Alan Mak,
while Taiwan's entry was Goodby, Dragon Inn by Tsai Ming-liang.

South Korea's entry is Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and
Spring by Ki-Duk, while Japan submitted The Twilight Samurai by
director Yoji Yamada.

Other notable entries include France's Bon Voyage, by Jean-
Paul Rappenau, a movie set in the days following the country's
1940 military defeat and Russia's The Return, Andrei
Zvyagintsev's Venice Golden Lion-winning film.

The nominations for the 2004 Oscars will be announced in Los
Angeles on Jan. 27 and the winner will be chosen from the five
finalists at the Oscars ceremony on Feb. 29.

Last year's winner was Germany's Nowhere in Afrika.