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Oscars 2024: the night of the stars gets one step closer. In the past few hours, the nominations for the new edition of the highly coveted film award, the oldest in the world, were announced. While there are already film titles with a high number of nominations (just think of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer , which received an impressive 13), Mediterranean countries have also earned their place of honor at the Dolby Theatre.
In fact, between the five Oscar nominees for best foreign-language film, two countries from the Mediterranean basin earned the coveted nomination. These are, specifically, Spain with J.A. Bayona’s The Snow Company and Italy, with Matteo Garrone’sIo, capitano . What are these films about?
Oscars 2024: Italy returns to Dolby Theatre with I, Captain
Two years after the 2022 nomination of È stato la mano di Dio (It was the Hand of God ), Paolo Sorrentino, who had already won the same award in 2014, Italy returns to the Oscars among the frontrunners for best foreign film. And it does so with Matteo Garrone and the highly acclaimed Io, Capitano and theissue of migration from African countries to Italy. A delicate and dramatic story of two 16-year-old cousins, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave their home country to reach Europe and become musicians.
The film follows the stories of the two teenagers, letting the audience explore the harsh reality of migration; violence, detention, crossing the desert, and finally crossing the sea in search of freedom and future. Garrone’s film was particularly acclaimed in Italy. At the Venice Film Festival it won 13 awards, including the Silver Lion for Best Director. Italy now hopes for a new award, which would come exactly 10 years after the last one.
The Snow Society: Spain at the Oscars
The other Mediterranean country nominated for the 2024 Oscars is Spain, with J.A. Bayona’s The Snow Society. A film that explores a real story with dramatic implications: that of the Flight 571 air disaster that crashed in the Andes. This is not the first feature film dedicated to that event: the first was released in 1976, based on the 1973 book recounting the events. The best known upon the release of The Snow Society, without a doubt, was Alive, released in 1993, in which Ethan Hawke stars.
Flight 571, which departed from Montevideo, Uruguay, was bound for Santiago, Chile: a crash in the Andes, caused by several human errors, interrupted the journey of the 45 passengers on board. This disaster, however, is known as the miracle of the Andes:this nickname is due to the survival of 16 passengers. The film tells the story of the 72 days spent in the freezing cold and the extremely difficult choices made in order not to succumb, which changed the lives of the survivors forever.
Oscars night 2024, therefore, is getting closer and closer. Next March 10, captained by Jimmy Kimmel, the always wonderful Night of the Stars will take place. The whole world is trepidatiously waiting to find out the new awardees. Italy and Spain, along with the other three nations nominated for best foreign film (UK, Germany and Japan), await: who will be awarded the coveted statuette?
