For many reasons, one of the categories hardest to predict at the Academy Awards is the Best Foreign Film. The pool is huge (currently at 63 films) and not only do these films rarely get a release in the US, let alone anything wider than a few theaters. Couple that with the fact that most films don’t actually hit those few theaters until after the Oscars air, and this leaves the category to mostly a big guess. So, in an effort to make our readers aware of potential candidates, I like to highlight any trailers that come our way.
Today we have the debut US trailer for Israel’s foreign Oscar entry. From director Joseph Cedar, whose war story Beaufort was one of 2008’s five best foreign film nominations, Footnote won the best screenplay and nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year. The scholarly battle story of wits seems a bit dry, but I’m looking forward to eventually check it out. See it below via Apple, along with the poster.
Synopsis:
FOOTNOTE is the tale of a great rivalry between a father and son. Eliezer and Uriel Shkolnik are both eccentric professors, who have dedicated their lives to their work in Talmudic Studies. The father, Eliezer, is a stubborn purist who fears the establishment and has never been recognized for his work. While his son, Uriel, is an up-and-coming star in the field, who appears to feed on accolades, endlessly seeking recognition. Then one day, the tables turn. When Eliezer learns that he is to be awarded the Israel Prize, the most valuable honor for scholarship in the country, his vanity and desperate need for validation are exposed. His son Uriel, meanwhile, is thrilled to see his father’s achievements finally recognized but, in a darkly funny twist, is forced to choose between the advancement of his own career and his father’s. Will he sabotage his father’s glory? FOOTNOTE is the story of insane academic competition, the dichotomy between admiration and envy for a role model, and the very complicated relationship between a father and son.
Footnote hits theaters February 24th, 2012 via Sony Pictures Classics.