Editorial

At the time of writing it is Monday Bigelow in 2009), while less than 4 Editorial morning, Central European Time, per cent of the acting awards have on the 3rd of March 2014, which gone to African Americans (all fig- means it is the morning after the ures and facts above from Horn Issue 67 86th Academy Awards, or Oscars. and Sperling 2012). I spent this year’s ceremony, as But the most glaring omission always, fast asleep in my bed. The over the years has been that of the By Daniel Lindvall actual event holds about as much world outside of the United States interest to me as a royal wed- and, occasionally, the United King- ding or a cat exhibition (the pro- dom. Thus, no non-English-lan- verbial activity of watching paint guage film has ever received the dry, on the other hand, is actually Best Picture award (The Artist, the a rather meditative and pleas- only winner financed outside of ant pastime – just don’t forget to the United States or the United ventilate if indoors). Nevertheless, Kingdom was, of course, silent). I always check the winners first And it looks pretty much the thing in the morning. After all the same in all other categories, with list of winners (and nominees) is the exception, naturally, of the at least a rough guide to the cur- Best Foreign Language Film. Non- rent values and preoccupations of Americans or non-Brits pick up the Hollywood, still the world’s most occasional award for work on an powerful film industry. American movie. Thus, this year’s Editor-in-Chief However, if the award choices winner of the Best Director award, Daniel Lindvall, Selebovägen 10, 122 48 Enskede, Sweden of the Academy of Motion Picture Alfonso Cuarón (for his work on [email protected] Arts and Sciences reflect Holly- Gravity), was the first Latino to be Review/Festival Editor wood opinion reasonably well, the so rewarded (and remember that Jacob Mertens, 4129 Lynbrook Drive, some 35 million US citizens have Wilmington, NC 28405, US demographics of the organization [email protected] are anything but representative Spanish as their first language). Contributing Editors of the US nation as a whole. As of When it comes to acknowl- Liza Palmer 2012 the Academy counted 5,765 edging film culture outside of [email protected] voting members, divided into the United States /United King- Per Linnertz [email protected] 15 branches (executives, direc- dom this year was no exception. Layout Design tors, writers, etc.): 94 per cent of Thus, the Academy could find John Teehan the members were white, 77 per not a single film from the outside [email protected] cent were male and 86 per cent world worthy even of inclusion Cover Design Stephanie Sarlos were above the age of 50. The among the nominees in the Best [email protected] skewed make-up of the Academy Film category. They could find not Copy Editor is undoubtedly a reflection of both a single film from the whole wide Jeremy Lockyer power relations and demographics world (having had at least a lim- Image Editor within the industry at large. And ited release in the vast Los Angeles Steven Thomas Gamble [email protected] equally undoubtedly this compo- area during 2013) capable of com- Production Managers sition of the voting membership peting with the silliness of Her, the Jelena Stanovnik and Heather Gibson helps explain the homogeneous technically accomplished vacuity Printed by choice of awardees over the years. of Gravity, or the jingoistic falsifi- Gomer Press Ltd, UK Thus only one woman has won cation of history of Captain Phillips. Published by intellect www.intellectbooks.com the Best Director award (Kathryn Neither could they find any actor

4 | film international issue 67 Editorial

or actress, even in a supporting events from modern history. Out also introduce new regular col- role, from such a film worthy of a of nine films nominated for the umns, such as review editor Jacob nomination. Nor a single director Best Picture award no fewer than Mertens’s ‘Parting Words’, which of a non-English-language film, six were based on ‘true’ stories. will close each issue. We hope or a single scriptwriter. There is And the winning film was the third you will appreciate our new for- something positively North Korean such winner in the last four years. mat and invite you to share your about this semi-pathological level This is the first issue ofFilm thoughts and suggestions with us. of self-congratulatory introversion. International as a quarterly. In our Having said that, Cuarón’s new, 136-page format, we will Reference win, along with the three Oscars focus on essays and interviews, awarded to 12 Years a Slave, never- while the bulk of the material theless made the 86th edition of that used to make up the review Horn, John and Sperling, Nicole the Academy Awards rather more section is now published directly (2012), ‘Unmasking the Academy: diverse than most. And the choice online (at http://www.filmint.nu). Oscar voters overwhelmingly of 12 Years a Slave as Best Picture This way our reviews of recent white, male’, Los Angeles Times, 19 is obviously an immeasurable films will reach you while these February, http://www.latimes.com/ improvement compared to the are still fresh at the cinema. The entertainment/news/movies/ Islamophobic nonsense that was printed edition will still feature academy/la-et-unmasking-oscar- Argo. In another respect this year’s longer, reflective, review essays academy-project-html,0,7473284. Oscars strengthened a recent about recent films as well as htmlstory#axzz2uty0OEfr. trend, the preoccupation with real classic DVD releases. We will Accessed 3 March 2014.

Due to an error during printing, one page of Anna Weinstein's interview with Caroline Link was re- placed by an ad in Film International 66, vol. 11, No. 6, 2013. We apologize for this. The interview can be read in full at our website: http://www.filmint.nu/?p=10619.

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