In a major milestone for Arab and Lebanese cinema, Nadine Labaki's CAPHARNAUM has been officially shortlisted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for a Best Foreign Language Oscar. Released earlier this morning, the shortlist included 9 films from which a final list of 5 contenders will be selected and announced in January 2019.
This marks the very first time for a female Arab filmmaker to land a spot on the Foreign Language Oscar shortlist and the second time for a Lebanese film to be shortlisted for the Academy Award .
CAPHARNAUM's shortlist selection comes just 10 days after its Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, a first for a Lebanese film and only the second time for an Arab film (following PARADISE NOW). Selected by a committee formed from its wider 7,000+ membership of filmmakers and industry players in the US and abroad, the AMPAS Foreign Language Oscar shortlist marks the pre-nomination phase, with only 5 of the 9 shortlisted films making the cut and landing an official Oscar nomination. The Golden Globe awards for Best Foreign Language Film, selected by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) consists of only 5 final film nominees. In the entire history of the Golden Globe awards, only Palestine's PARADISE NOW and now Lebanon's CAPHARNAUM were able to make the cut and land official nominations in this category.
A committee of AMPAS members will now watch the nine shortlisted Foreign Language Oscar contenders throughout the month of December and will select only five films to be officially nominated for the Foreign Language Oscar. The final nominees will be announced on January 22, 2019 at the annual AMPAS press conference announcing the entire Oscar nominations in all 24 Oscar categories.
This week brought further accomplishments for CAPHARNAUM, with a Critics Choice nomination for Best Foreign Language Film (by the Broadcast Film Critics Association) which marks the second time a Labaki film has made the cut (following her Critics Choice nomination for WHERE DO WE GO NOW) in 2012.
With over 180,000 admissions at the Lebanese box office to date, CAPHARNAUM is still playing in cinemas, scoring the highest number of tickets sold for a single film in Lebanon throughout 2018.
