Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 8-20-2013 12:00 AM 'Subbed-Titles': Hollywood, the Art House Market and the Best Foreign Language Film Category at the Oscars Kyle W. J. Tabbernor The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Constanza Burucua The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Film Studies A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Arts © Kyle W. J. Tabbernor 2013 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons Recommended Citation Tabbernor, Kyle W. J., "'Subbed-Titles': Hollywood, the Art House Market and the Best Foreign Language Film Category at the Oscars" (2013). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 1508. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/1508 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ‘SUBBED-TITLES’: HOLLYWOOD, THE ART HOUSE MARKET AND THE BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM CATEGORY AT THE OSCARS MONOGRAPH by Kyle William James Tabbernor Graduate Program In Film Studies A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Kyle William James Tabbernor 2013 ii Abstract This thesis provides a history of the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars between 1926 and 2013. It examines the category through an industrial approach, historicizing the category’s symbiotic relationship with the Hollywood studios and examining how its financial, political and cultural parameters have been affected by changes within Hollywood studio corporate structure and the Hollywood studios’ practice of importing foreign-language films from Europe and around the world. Documenting this practice allows for the category to be structured in three sections: the period of European Art Cinema, the period of European commercial cinema, and the current period, which focuses on commercialized films that can be distributed worldwide. This study will ultimately suggest that the category acts as a prism that can be used to understand the industrial conditions and contexts of various forms of art and niche cinema at a global level. Keywords Best Foreign Language Film Category, Oscars, Academy Awards, A.M.P.A.S., Hollywood, Film Industries, Art House, Art Cinema, Film Festivals, Europe, European Film, Miramax, Sony Pictures Classics, Life Is Beautiful, Perren, Tzioumakis, Gomery, Mazdon iii Acknowledgements First and foremost, to Dr. Constanza Burucua, for guiding this project with confidence and always allowing me to be as creative or uncreative as I was in any particular moment. To Ryan Stam and Caitlin Foster, for making everyday in the office something to look forward to, and for always answering my messages at four in the morning. To Melissa, for getting me in shape mentally and physically, and always offering an encouraging word. To Kelly, for being my compass not only during this project, but over the past ten years. We animals can’t be tamed. To Jodie, who showed patience and support while I interrupted our life together to fulfill this dream. To Mom and Dad, for always knowing when they needed to give encouragement or when they needed to back out of the room slowly. And to Rachel Marcus. This journey would not have been the same without you. All I can say is, “they don’t know about us”. iv Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………ii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………….iii Table of Contents.....................................................................................................................iv List of Appendices……………………………………………………………………….......vi Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………...1 Chapter 1………………………………………………………………………………...........9 The First Period: ‘European Art Cinema’…………………………………………….9 1.1 Hollywood and the Academy…………………………………………………....9 1.2 ‘ Art Cinema’ and the Art House Market……………………………………….17 1.3 Hollywood, the Art House Market and the Category…………………………...26 1.4 The Decline of the Art House Market ………………………………………….30 Chapter 2…………………………………………………………………………………....33 The Second Period: ‘European Commercial Cinema’……………………………...33 2.1 The Art House Market in the 1980s…………………………………………….34 2.2 Miramax, Sony Pictures Classics and the Art House Market in the 1990s…….37 2.3 European Film Industries and the ‘Historical Film’……………………………43 Chapter 3……………………………………………………………………………………53 The Third Period: The Commercialization of the Category………………………..53 3.1 The Declining Art House Market………………………………………………53 3.2 Globalization and Motilic Strategies…………………………………………...57 3.3 The International Film Festival Circuit………………………………………...60 3.4 Marketing and a Return to the ‘Auteur’………………………………………..64 3.5 The Category’s Moment – Life is Beautiful……………………………………66 3.6 A New Template……………………………………………………………….69 v Chapter 4…………………………………………………………………………………...72 Rules and Requirements of Eligibility……………………………………………. 72 4.1 Committees…………………………………………………………………….73 4.2 Language and Nation…………………………………………………………..80 4.3 Industry Standards……………………………………………………………..83 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………87 The Future of the Category and of Research on the Topic……………………......87 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………….....91 Filmography……………………………………………………………………………...104 Appendix A……………………………………………………………………………....111 Appendix B………………………………………………………………………………114 Appendix C………………………………………………………………………………115 Curriculum Vitae………………………………………………………………………...116 vi List of Appendices Appendix A: List of Best Foreign Language Films………………………………………..111 Appendix B: List of Key Trade Publications………………………………………………114 Appendix C: List of Key Online Film Blogs………………………………………………115 1 Introduction The aim of this project is to provide a history of the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars between 1926 and 2013. The major focus of this process will historicize the category’s symbiotic relationship with the Hollywood studios and examine how its financial, political and cultural parameters have been affected by changes within Hollywood studio corporate structure and the Hollywood studios’ practice of importing foreign-language films from Europe and around the world. Documenting this practice allows us to see the category in four distinct sections: the period of time between the birth of the Academy and the creation of the annual award (1926 to 1946), the period of ‘European Art Cinema’ (1947 until roughly 1988), the period of ‘European Commercial Cinema’ (1989 to 1997), and the modern period, which focuses on commercialized films that can be distributed worldwide (1998 to present). This study will ultimately suggest that the category acts as a prism that can be used to understand the industrial conditions and contexts of various forms of art and niche cinema at a global level. It is important to note that the genesis of this project came from my desire to analyze representations of nation and national identity within the category’s winning films. However, as the research for this project progressed, it became clear that the investigation of such representations was dependent on contextualizing each filmic text within a larger industrial narrative. What I discovered was that the story of the Best Foreign-Language film category is inseparable from Hollywood’s practice of importing foreign-language cinema. As a result of this realization, the focus of this project was gradually repositioned towards the broader task of outlining the creation of the category and situating it as a site that makes visible the political, financial and cultural strands that make up the complex relationship between the Hollywood studios, the art house/niche market and other national film industries. In his article “The New Film History” (1986), Thomas Elsaesser explains how film theorists Douglas Gomery and Robert C. Allen suggest that “the basic problems about doing film history are the same as with any other form of history: what is the object of study, what counts as evidence and finally, what is being explained” (Elsaesser 247). Elsaesser states that, to his surprise, in Allen and Gomery’s book on the methodology of film history, Film History, Theory and Practice (1985), the films themselves are not the object of study. To 2 quote Elsaesser, “It is true that for one narrow form of film historical inquiry, prints of films are the only valid data. However, for broader and more interesting questions, we think non- filmic materials prove invaluable” (Elsaesser 247). This project embraces this belief whole- heartedly: an analysis of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (A.M.P.A.S), the organization that governs the Oscars and the Foreign Language Film category, requires the weaving together of multiple areas within film studies research. This project intertwines historical research on the shifting structure of the Hollywood film industry and on the rise of global ‘art cinema’ and independent film production in North America; it looks at the commercialization of ‘niche markets’ within the domestic exhibition industry and at theories of national cinemas and the effects of globalization on foreign-language film production. This will be augmented by an approach informed by ‘Media