Interesting read for Foreign Film fansFilm Otaku has what reads like a well researched piece on the lack of a Philippine presence in the annual Oscar foreign film derby. This type of article we don't see enough of. The Philippines aren't alone though. Other regularly submitting countries that have never found favor with AMPAS: Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Portugal, Romania (this is particularly galling due to recent events), Turkey and Venezuela. And though Asian cinema has been under represented at the Oscars given its prominence in general film culture most Asian countries that submit each year have been nominated at least once, except Korea and Thailand. It must be frustrating for the homegrown fans of any shunned countries with France and Italy each nominated virtually every other year. But they had a headstart. Franco-Italian cinema actually accounts for nine of the first eleven statues handed out for foreign films (the category became a traditional one in 1956 but 8 films were honored prior to that)
Here's a chart I update each year with the history of how the various countries are represented. I'm currently toiling behind the scenes to fix little errors, freshen the place up, and restore previous years of awards pages. I'm looking at June for a re-grand opening of TFE and all awards-related material. Big plans afoot for the fall. This will be the best year yet for foreign film Oscar coverage at The Film Experience. Stay tuned.
