Cine Martes: “La historia oficial”

Last Tuesday we looked at a pair of Latin American films- Argentina’s “El Secreto de Sus Ojos " and Peru’s “La Teta Asustada”- that were named to the the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar shortlist. This morning both these movies were chosen along with three other flicks as finalists for the Academy’s top foreign film. They should be considered as strong candidates; “La Teta Asustada” won top honors at last year’s Berlin Film Festival, for instance.

No foreign language film has ever won the Oscar for best picture and that infamous streak was continued today. This has not diminished the enthusiasm of the director of "El Secreto de Sus Ojos", however:

(Juan Jose) Campanella, whose "Son of the Bride" was nominated for an Oscar in 2002, told Argentine cable channel Todo Noticias he was stunned by Tuesday's news.

"I cannot believe it," he told the channel in Spanish. "You go through the process with so much anxiety that when it happens the news is a relief."

Movies like "Pan's Labyrinth", "Alsino and the Condor", and "Central Station", have been nominated to the Best Foreign Language Film category but only once has a Latin American film won it. Argentina’s “La historia oficial” (“The Official Version”) won in 1985. The emotional drama centers on a possible illegal adoption resulting from the Dirty War and was made as Argentines slowly started coming to grips with one of the ugliest chapters in the country’s history:

Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, CNN, Canadian Press, Wikipedia, IMDB, YouTube