Singapore, Iran and Pakistan join the list of countries that have submitted movies for the Best Foreign Film category for the 90th Academy Awards.
Singapore selected Kirsten Tan movie “Pop Aye” as its national contender for the Academy Awards. The movie has earlier won the world cinema dramatic special jury award at Sundance earlier this year. It was set entirely in Thailand, and stars Thaneth Warakulnukroh as a down-and-out architect who is reunited with his childhood elephant. They embark on a road trip across the Thai countryside in search of their old home.
Iran’s choice for this year’s Oscar nominations is a drama “Breath”, directed by female filmmaker Narges Abyar. The film, which was produced in 2015 and hit the silver screen a year later was praised by Iranian audience at the Fajr Film Festival. The movie tells the story of Little Bahar who lives a life spun from folklore and stories, always with her head in a book. But growing up in Yazd in the 1970s and ’80s, she’s at the centre of a country in turmoil: the Shah is overthrown, Ayatollah Khomeini rises to power, and the first shots are fired in a bitter and protracted war with Iraq. Over the span of several years, Bahar finds daydreaming in her own fantasy world is the only way she can make sense of the pain and suffering warring humans inflict on one another.
Pakistan selected the movie “My Pure Land” as its entry for the Best Foreign Film category. It was produced by London-born Pakistani filmmaker Sarmad Masood. The film is based on a true story of Sindh’s Nazo Dharejo, the woman who fought off 200 bandits to save the land of her farmer father. It was shot in Pakistan with Sohai Ali Abro, Salman Ahmed Khan, Razia Malik, Tayyab Afzal and Iman Fatima in the leading roles.
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