[ad_1]
The movie “Listens, by Ana Rocha de Sousa, is Portugal’s candidate for an Oscar nomination, in the category of Best International Film, ”announced the Portuguese Film Academy on Monday.
Listens was the most voted among the members of the academy, in a choice between four Portuguese films proposed for discussion: Listens, by Ana Rocha de Sousa, Mosquitoby João Nuno Pinto, Patrick, by Gonçalo Waddington, and Vitalina Varelaby Pedro Costa.
In a statement, the president of the Portuguese Film Academy, Paulo Trancoso, recalls that the film won several awards in Venice, “one of the most important film festivals in the world”, and “quickly became the most watched Portuguese film of the year, despite the critical moment ”that the country is going through, due to covid-19.
These two conditions reveal “a vote of hope in the talent of Portuguese filmmakers, who are increasingly recognized abroad and appreciated by the national public,” said Paulo Trancoso.
Listens is the first fiction feature film by Ana Rocha de Sousa, a family drama inspired by a true story, about a Portuguese family who emigrated to London, from which custody of the children is taken away, on suspicion of abuse. The narrative follows the family’s efforts to prove to British social and judicial services that the suspicions are unfounded.
With a Portuguese-British co-production, the film was shot in nearby London with a Portuguese and English cast, led by Lúcia Moniz, Ruben García and Sophia Myles. The film won six awards at the Venice Film Festival, including the Lion of the Future, for its first play, and the special jury award for the Horizons competition.
Listens it was released in Portuguese cinemas on October 21, having since added some 29,300 viewers.
In the event that the United States Film Academy obstructs the fact that the film is spoken in English, Paulo Trancoso explained to the Lusa agency on Monday that it is possible to choose another candidate. “Hopefully there are no obstacles, only a specific committee will analyze the films. But we could not narrow the film to be a candidate. The film has an English language, a Portuguese language, a sign language, the language context is appropriate, it is an easily identifiable story that deals with a Portuguese community, ”Paulo Trancoso told the Lusa agency.
The 93rd edition of the Oscars, North American film awards, is scheduled for April 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, United States. Oscar nominations will be announced in March.
The ceremony was initially scheduled for the end of February, but was postponed to April, in a context of the Covid-19 pandemic that affected the film industry globally and in practically all areas, from production to distribution and exhibition.
