Next step towards an Oscar for “Sister” in Palm Springs

Ursula Meier’s “Sister” is well under way as Best Foreign Language Film for the 85th Academy Awards.

03.01.2013

Ursula Meier’s “Sister” is well under way as Best Foreign Language Film for the 85th Academy Awards. The film festival in Palm Springs is the next major step towards garnering an Oscar nomination for the fiction film, after having made the shortlist comprised of nine films. Five will be selected for an Oscar nomination.

Forty-two of the 71 foreign language submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film will be presented at the 24th Palm Springs International Film Festival (January 3-14, 2013). Particular attention is paid to the films which have been shortlisted for an Oscar nomination. The films, listed here alphabetically according to country, include:

Chile, “No,” Pablo Larraín
Denmark, “A Royal Affair,” Nikolaj Arcel
France, “Intouchables,” Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano
Iceland, “The Deep,” Baltasar Kormákur
Canada, “War Witch,” Kim Nguyen
Norway, “Kon-Tiki,” Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg
Austria, “Amour,” Michael Haneke
Rumania, “Beyond the Hills,” Cristian Mungiu
Switzerland, “Sister,” Ursula Meier

The festival is an important platform for drawing the Academy members’ attention to foreign films in the running for an Oscar nomination and for launching European film productions on the US market.

Audience favourites “More Than Honey” and “Der Verdingbub”
Together with Ursula Meier’s fiction film, the festival will also screen Markus Imhoof’s documentary film “More Than Honey” and Markus Imboden’s fiction film “Der Verdingbub.” These two films were box-office hits in Switzerland in 2012 and 2011. Peter Mettler’s “The End Of Time” will also be honoured with a screening in Palm Springs. Both the Belgian entry “À perdre la raison” (coproduction: Box Productions) and “Sister” will be screened in the Awards Buzz section. Ursula Meier – who was already invited to Palm Springs in 2010 with “Home” – and Markus Imhoof will present their films personally in Palm Springs.

Zurich, January 3, 2013