Independent Croatia has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1992. The award is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. [1] It was not created until the 1956 Academy Awards, in which a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was introduced for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since. [2]
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, on the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the southeast, sharing a maritime border with Italy. Its capital, Zagreb, forms one of the country's primary subdivisions, along with twenty counties. Croatia has an area of 56,594 square kilometres and a population of 4.28 million, most of whom are Roman Catholics.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City. Most of the country is located contiguously in North America between Canada and Mexico.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion pictures. The Academy's corporate management and general policies are overseen by a Board of Governors, which includes representatives from each of the craft branches.
Since achieving independence from Yugoslavia, Croatia has submitted 27 films for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film as of 2018 [update] , but none have been nominated for an Oscar. Croatia also unsuccessfully tried to submit a film in 1991 while the country was in the process of achieving international recognition. [3] Since independence, five Croatian directors have had multiple films submitted to the Academy for review. Directors Branko Schmidt, Arsen Anton Ostojić and Zrinko Ogresta had three of their films selected, and two other directors had two films submitted – Vinko Brešan and Dalibor Matanić.
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), also known as SFR Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country located in central and Southeastern Europe that existed from its foundation in the aftermath of World War II until its dissolution in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. Covering an area of 255,804 km², the SFRY was bordered by the Adriatic Sea and Italy to the west, Austria and Hungary to the north, Bulgaria and Romania to the east, and Albania and Greece to the south.
Branko Schmidt is an acclaimed Croatian film director. His 2012 film Cannibal Vegetarian was selected as the Croatian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.
Arsen Anton Ostojić is a Croatian film director and screenwriter.
Prior to independence, Croatian actors and filmmakers participated in the Yugoslav film industry and several films made by Croatian filmmakers or produced by Croatian-based film studios were submitted for Oscar consideration representing Yugoslavia. [4] Of these films, two received a nomination: The Road a Year Long directed by Giuseppe De Santis in 1958 (co-produced by Croatian film companies Croatia Film and Jadran Film), and The Ninth Circle directed by France Štiglic in 1960 (produced by Jadran Film). [4]
Cinema of Yugoslavia was the cinema of Yugoslavia.
A film studio is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production company. The majority of firms in the entertainment industry have never owned their own studios, but have rented space from other companies.
The Road a Year Long is a 1958 film directed by Giuseppe De Santis. A Yugoslavian-Italian co-production, it was Yugoslavia's first ever submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the award at the 31st Academy Awards in April 1959. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. For his performance Massimo Girotti was awarded best actor at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1956. [2] The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via secret ballot to determine five nominees for the award. [1]
The secret ballot, also known as Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous, forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote buying. The system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy.
According to Academy rules, the selection of each country's official submission has to be made by "one organization, jury or committee that should include artists and/or craftspeople from the field of motion pictures". [1] In Croatia's case the selection committee and procedure are organized by the Film Artists' Association of Croatia (Hrvatsko društvo filmskih djelatnika or HDFD). [5] Film producers and directors can submit a film for consideration to HDFD, which verifies the completeness of the application and compliance with Academy rules. According to the latest revision of the HDFD criteria in 2007, these include that the film must have had its cinema release between 1 October and 30 September in the preceding year and that the application enclosed must contain a written statement confirming that all financial obligations to performers and craftspeople involved with the film's production have been fulfilled. [5] A 17-member committee composed of HDFD members then proceeds to vote for nominated films in a secret ballot. [5]
The Film Artists' Association of Croatia is a trade union representing artists working in the Croatian film industry. Founded in May 1950 the association has around 400 members in its eight departments.
Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by Croatia for review by the Academy by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony.
The cinema of Croatia has a somewhat shorter tradition than what is common for other Central European countries: the serious beginning of Croatian cinema starts with the rise of the Yugoslavian film industry in the 1940s. Three Croatian feature films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, several of them gained awards at major festivals, and the Croatian contribution in the field of animation is particularly important.