The 26th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), scheduled January 2-12, 2015, announced the films selected to compete for the FIPRESCI Award in the Awards Buzz section. The Festival will screen 50 of the 83 official submissions to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Best Foreign Language Film. Additional film programs will be announced in the upcoming weeks.
The Awards Buzz section is selected by Festival programmers as the strongest entries in this year’s Academy Awards® race. A special jury of international film critics will review these films to present the FIPRESCI Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, as well as Best Actor and Best Actress in this category. The following 50 films are selected to screen (in alphabetical order by country):
- A Few Cubic Meters of Love (Afghanistan), Director Jamshid Mahmoudi
- Wild Tales (Argentina), Director Damián Szifrón
- Charlie’s Country (Australia), Director Rolf de Heer
- The Dark Valley (Austria), Director Andreas Prochaska
- Nabat (Azerbaijan), Director Elchin Musaoglu
- Two Days, One Night (Belgium/France/Italy), Directors Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
- The Way He Looks (Brazil), Director Daniel Ribeiro
- Mommy (Canada), Director Xavier Dolan
- To Kill a Man (Chile), Director Alejandro Fernández Almendras
- The Nightingale (China), Director Philippe Muyl
- Mateo (Colombia), Director Maria Gamboa
- Cowboys (Croatia), Director Tomislav Mršić
- Behavior (Cuba), Director Ernesto Daranas
- Fair Play (Czech Republic), Director Andrea Sedláčková
- Sorrow and Joy (Denmark), Director Nils Malmros
- Tangerines (Estonia), Director Zaza Urushadze
- Concrete Night (Finland), Director Pirjo Honkasalo
- Saint Laurent (France), Director Bertrand Bonello
- Corn Island (Georgia), Director George Ovashvili
- Beloved Sisters (Germany), Director Dominik Graf
- Little England (Greece), Director Pantelis Voulgaris
- The Golden Era (Hong Kong), Director Ann Hui
- White God (Hungary), Director Kornél Mundruczó
- Life in a Fishbowl (Iceland), Director Baldvin Zophoníasson
- Liar’s Dice (India), Director Geetu Mohandas
- Today (Iran), Director Reza Mirkarimi
- Gett, The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (Israel), Directors Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz
- Human Capital (Italy), Director Paolo Virzì
- The Light Shines Only There (Japan), Director Mipo O
- Three Windows and a Hanging (Kosovo), Director Isa Qosja
- Kurmanjan Datka: Queen of the Mountains (Kyrgyzstan), Director Sadyk Sher-Niyaz
- Rocks in My Pockets (Latvia), Director Signe Baumane
- Ghadi (Lebanon), Director Amin Dora
- Never Die Young (Luxembourg), Director Pol Cruchten
- Timbuktu (Mauritania/France), Director Abderrahmane Sissako
- Accused (Netherlands), Director Paula van der Oest
- 1001 Grams (Norway), Director Bent Hamer
- Dukhtar (Pakistan), Director Afia Nathaniel
- Eyes of a Thief (Palestine), Director Najwa Najjar
- Norte, the End of History (Philippines), Director Lav Diaz
- Ida (Poland), Director Pawel Pawlikowski
- The Japanese Dog (Romania), Director Tudor Cristian Jurgiu
- Leviathan (Russia), Director Andrey Zvyagintsev
- See You in Montevideo (Serbia), Director Dragan Bjelogrlić
- Sea Fog (South Korea), Director Sung-bo Shim
- Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed (Spain), Director David Trueba
- Force Majeure (Sweden), Director Ruben Östlund
- Winter Sleep (Turkey), Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- The Guide (Ukraine), Director Oles Sanin
- Kaplan (Uruguay), Director Álvaro Brechner
About The Palm Springs International Film Festival
The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is one of the largest film festivals in North America, welcoming 135,000 attendees last year for its lineup of new and celebrated international features and documentaries. The Festival is also known for its annual Black Tie Awards Gala, honoring the best achievements of the filmic year by a celebrated list of talents who, in recent years, have included Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, Matthew McConaughey, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, David O. Russell, Meryl Streep, and Kate Winslet.
The Awards Gala of the 26th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival is presented by Cartier and sponsored by Mercedes Benz and Entertainment Tonight. The City of Palm Springs is the Title Sponsor of the Film Festival. Presenting Sponsors are Wells Fargo, The Desert Sun and Spencer’s. Major sponsors are Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Wessman Development, Bank of America, Wintec, Regal Entertainment Group, Ignition Creative, Desert Regional Medical Center, Windermere Real Estate, Eisenhower Medical Center, Guthy-Renker, Integrated Wealth Management, VisitGreaterPalmSprings.com, Ocean Properties, Chihuly and Telefilm Canada. For more information, call 760-322-2930 or 800-898-7256 or visit www.psfilmfest.org.