Paul Schrader and Ethan Hawke did not expect to be here. The writer/director and his actor are still talking about First Reformed, 18 months on from its premiere at Venice, as they receive nominations and awards to add to the mountains of critical praise the film has drawn. Its examination of a crisis of faith for a…

The International Documentary Association has announced the initial round of nominees for the 2017 IDA Documentary Awards. The 33rd annual event will take place December 9 at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles. The IDA will honor director Marcel Mettelsiefen's Watani: My Homeland with the Pare Lorentz Award, which…

Oscar-winning Ida helmer Pawel Pawlikowski has just begun production on his next film, Cold War. France’s MK2 Films and the UK’s Protagonist Pictures are teaming to handle worldwide sales on the drama and will introduce the project to buyers at the EFM this week. A Polish/French/UK co-production, it’s written by…

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger has joined the International Documentary Association’s (IDA) board of directors. Said IDA Board President, Marjan Safinia in a statement: "Two years ago, at the inaugural Getting Real 2014 documentary conference, Joe Berlinger spoke movingly about the…

Ida is the first Foreign Language Oscar win for Poland, but the 10th time a film from the country has been nominated since 1963. Pawel Pawlikowski's intimate black-and-white drama itself had a long road to the podium tonight. It played Telluride all the way back in 2013, but missed the Oscar cutoff date that year, and…

Ida, about a novitiate nun who discovers a dark family secret, by Polish-British director Pawel Pawlikowski, is up for two Oscars this year: best foreign language film and best achievement in cinematography. Lukasz Zal, one of the two cinematographers on the shoot—who stepped in when director of photography Ryszard…

EXCLUSIVE: Pawel Pawlikowski's Oscar-nominated Ida was released over a year ago in Poland, but with the increased international spotlight on the film, a controversy has erupted in its native land. The Polish Anti-Defamation League, Reduta Dobrego Imienia, has accused the film of failing to acknowledge the German…

The Academy started with a record 83 submissions for the Foreign Language Oscar this year, whittling that down to a shortlist of nine in December. Today we are left with five nominees: Damián Szifrón's Wild Tales (Argentina); Zaza Urushadze's Tangerines (Estonia) Abderrahmane Sissako's Timbuktu (Mauritania); Paweł…

Italy's Capri, Hollywood International Film Festival has named Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida as its Best Foreign Language Film. The 1960s Polish drama was shortlisted for an Oscar last week, has a Golden Globe nomination, and won five European Film Awards earlier this month. Pawlikowski will receive the prize in Capri where…

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the shortlist of nine films that will advance to the next stage in the Foreign Language Film Oscar race. As was widely expected Pawel Pawlikowski's 60s-set Polish drama Ida, fresh off of five European Film Awards, is in. Also turning up unsurprisingly are…

Here’s the final entry in my annual assessment of movies that have a chance to pass the first stage of the Foreign Language Oscar race. We expect the shortlist to come out tomorrow and I’m expecting a number of the films I’ve profiled below, and here and here, will make the grade. I spoke with the directors of the…

Below is Part 2 of my annual look at the films that have a shot at making the Foreign Language Oscar shortlist. There are 83 submissions this year with some truly remarkable films in the bunch — and no 100% frontrunner. Here’s a refresher on how the nine films are chosen for the shortlist which is expected to be…