LONDON (AP) — Movies from around the world that place compelling personal stories amid historical tumult are competing in the Academy Awards race for best foreign-language film.
Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s autobiographical memory masterpiece “Roma” received one of his 10 Oscar nominations Tuesday in the category. The black-and-white film, whose tally of nominations is equaled only by Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite,” is also up for trophies including best director and best picture.
It’s joined by another black-and-white period drama: “Cold War,” Polish director Pawel Pawlikowsi’s tale of romance between a singer and a musician across midcentury Europe.
The film, inspired by the director’s parents, was also nominated for cinematography and directing. Pawlikowski’s last film, “Ida,” won the foreign-language Oscar in 2015.
Also in the running are “Shoplifters,” Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s affecting tale of a family on society’s margins — winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s top prize — and Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki’s Cannes Jury Prize winner “Capernaum,” a powerful neo-realist drama about a Syrian child refugee struggling to survive.
German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who won the foreign-language Oscar in 2007 for Cold War surveillance drama “The Lives of Others,” is nominated for “Never Look Away,” the story of an artist’s evolution in a traumatized post-World War II Germany.
“Never Look Away” was inspired by the life of 86-year-old German artist Gerhard Richter, who has been publicly critical of the film.
The winner will be announced at the 91st Academy Awards ceremony on Feb. 24.
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