ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

'Drunken Birds' chosen as Canada's contender for international film Oscar

An image from the film 'Drunken Birds' is seen in an undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Toornto International Film Festival, *MANDATORY CREDIT* An image from the film 'Drunken Birds' is seen in an undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Toornto International Film Festival, *MANDATORY CREDIT*
Share
TORONTO -

"Drunken Birds" will represent Canada in the race for an Oscar nomination for best international feature film.

Montreal's Ivan Grbovic directed and co-wrote the drama, about a lovestruck Mexican drug cartel member who becomes a seasonal migrant worker in rural Quebec.

Sara Mishara co-wrote the film, which has the French title "Les oiseaux ivres," and stars Jorge Antonio Guerrero and Yoshira Escarrega.

Telefilm Canada says a pan-Canadian committee of about 20 voting delegates chose the project -- which includes dialogue in French, Spanish, English and Mandarin -- out of a total of 10 films submitted for Academy Awards consideration.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences must now decide which films will move on to the next round of voting in the category, with a short list of 10 films to be revealed Dec. 21.

Films that make the final cut will be announced along with the other Oscar nominations on Feb. 8.

"Drunken Birds" premiered at last month's Toronto International Film Festival and will be released on Oct. 15.

It's Grbovic's second feature film after "Romeo Eleven" from 2011, which won the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and the Discovery Award at the Namur Film Festival.

Last year's Canadian selection was originally Deepa Mehta's "Funny Boy," but it was later disqualified from competing because it failed to meet the academy's eligibility requirements due to the story's amount of English dialogue.

Telefilm Canada then submitted Jean-Philippe Duval's French-language drama "14 Days 12 Nights" in place of "Funny Boy," but it ultimately did not get a nomination.

Best international feature is awarded to a film produced outside of the United States with predominantly non-English dialogue.

The 2022 Oscars are scheduled to air live from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on March 27.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2021

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Top Hezbollah commander among 12 killed in Israeli strike on Beirut

Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander and several members of the group's elite Radwan unit in an airstrike on Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday, the Israeli military and a security source in Lebanon said, sharply escalating the year-long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.