The Ukrainian Oscar Committee has selected Valentyn Vasyanovych's «Atlantis» as a national nominee for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The film competed with two other candidates - Iryna Tsilyk's documentary "The Earth is Blue Like an Orange" and Antonio Lukic's comedy "My Thoughts Are Quiet".
This year, 13 members of the committee chose the film from Ukraine. 3 members of the committee were not allowed to vote due to a conflict of interest as members of the creative team and distributor of candidate films.
• Atlantis received 9 votes and an additional 3 points, according to the rules of the Ukrainian Oscar Committee (for the world premiere at the Class A festival, the award at the Class A festival and reviews in international specialized publications).
• The film "Earth is blue like an orange" - 3 votes and 3 additional points.
• The film "My thoughts are quiet" - 1 vote and 3 additional points.
After December 5 this year, the last day to accept applications for countries and their films nominated for an Oscar in this category, a special committee of the American Film Academy will check compliance with regulations and form a so-called long list of all applicants. After the first round of voting, the Academy will form a short list (shortlist) which will be published on February 9, 2021. The nominees for the award will be announced on March 15, 2021, and on April 21, 2021, the winners will be announced at an award ceremony in Los Angeles.
The events of the film "Atlantis" unfold in 2025, after the future victory of Ukraine in the war with Russia. The occupied Donbass has been returned to the country, but its territories have been declared uninhabitable. However, against the background of devastation, a new love is born. All roles in the film were played by non-professional actors. The performers are Andriy Rymaruk, a former spy, a volunteer of the Come Back Alive charity foundation, Lyudmyla Bileka, a paramedic, and Vasyl Antonyak, a volunteer. The film was shot in Mariupol and Kyiv.
The world premiere of "Atlantis" took place at the Venice Film Festival in the "Horizons" section, where the film won the top prize. Over the past year, the film has received widespread international success - the film was shown at more than 50 festivals, where in addition to the Venice Victory, it won four Grand Prix, the film was purchased by HBO Eastern Europe and distributors in three European countries. In addition, the film was included in the long list of the European Film Academy Award.
The producers of the film are Valentyn Vasyanovych, Iya Myslytska ("Tribe", "Twilight") and Volodymyr Yatsenko ("Home", "Wild Field"). The Belgian company Best Friend Forever is engaged in international promotion. The film was produced by Cannon Film Studio. The film project became one of the winners of the Ninth State Cinema Competition and received state financial support.
The Ukrainian premiere of "Atlantis" took place on September 26 as part of the international competition program of the Odessa International Film Festival. The tape will be released in Ukraine on November 5.
Sources: Ukrainian Oscar Committee and American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
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Material prepared by: Denis Budanov
