{"id":231785,"date":"2019-09-21T03:53:38","date_gmt":"2019-09-21T07:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=231785"},"modified":"2019-09-21T03:53:38","modified_gmt":"2019-09-21T07:53:38","slug":"antigone-chosen-as-canadas-contender-for-international-film-oscar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/09\/21\/antigone-chosen-as-canadas-contender-for-international-film-oscar\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Antigone&#8217; chosen as Canada&#8217;s contender for international film Oscar"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cBringing <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Antigone?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Antigone<\/a> to the Oscar race is not only a huge honour, it\u2019s also a way for me to highlight the values of empathy, artistry and integrity, which Canadian films exemplify so well,\u201d said writer-director Sophie Deraspe. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Oscars2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Oscars2020<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CdnFilm?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CdnFilm<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CdnTalent?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CdnTalent<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Proud?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Proud<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/N3qQql3zs1\">pic.twitter.com\/N3qQql3zs1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Telefilm Canada (@Telefilm_Canada) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Telefilm_Canada\/status\/1175160647513980928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 20, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>MONTREAL \u2014 Quebec writer-director Sophie Deraspe says she&#8217;s proud that her film has been chosen as the \u201cCanadian ambassador\u201d in the leadup to the 2020 Academy Awards.<\/p>\n<p>Telefilm Canada announced Friday that Canada is putting forward \u201cAntigone\u201d to vie for a nomination in Oscars&#8217; best international feature film category, which used to be known as best foreign language film.<\/p>\n<p>Deraspe said she sees the recognition not only as an endorsement of her craft, but also of the ideal the film espouses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAntigone is also a film about values. Values of sympathy, integrity, love,\u201d the Montreal filmmaker said by phone after Friday&#8217;s announcement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel proud of&#8230; campaigning not only for film, for the art of filmmaking, but also those values.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A modern revisioning of Sophocles&#8217; Greek tragedy, the Montreal-set drama centres on Antigone, played by newcomer Nahema Ricci, a teenager caught in a clash between her moral code and Canada&#8217;s justice system when tragedy strikes her immigrant family.<\/p>\n<p>Deraspe, who wrote and directed the film, said the story represents the power of the individual to shatter the \u201cimmovable wall\u201d of the system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s about a young woman who has no power in terms of what is power in our world &#8230; and she stands against authority because of what she believes,\u201d said Deraspe, whose 2015 credits include the documentary \u201cThe Amina Profile\u201d and the feature \u201cLes Loups.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat&#8217;s what the film wants to carry \u2014 that OK, there&#8217;s this big system above us, but we are those that are powerful deep inside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAntigone\u201d won the $30,000 Canada Goose Award for best Canadian feature film at the Toronto International Film Festival last Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Deraspe said she&#8217;s been fielding calls from American film agents offering to help her break into Hollywood.<\/p>\n<p>While she&#8217;s interested in the opportunity to expand her cinematic reach, the 45-year-old said moving to Los Angeles wasn&#8217;t really her \u201cdream.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe live in a country that supports art and filmmaking&#8230; that supports auteur filmmaking, not only commercial voices,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can bring out something to an audience that resonates more than just for fun or adventure, and in that way, yes, I&#8217;m proud of my country and I&#8217;m proud of being the ambassador.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAntigone,\u201d which hits theatres in Quebec on Nov. 6, is competing against films submitted by dozens of other countries, including two Canadian co-productions, in the race for an Oscars nod for international feature.<\/p>\n<p>A short list of 10 films will be unveiled on Dec. 16, and the chosen five official nominees will be announced on Jan. 13.<\/p>\n<p>Palestine is entering Elia Suleiman&#8217;s \u201cIt Must Be Heaven,\u201d co-produced by Canada, Palestine, Qatar, Turkey and France.<\/p>\n<p>Cuban-Canadian co-venture \u201cA Translator\u201d by Rodrigo Barriuso and Sebastian Barriuso will represent Cuba in the race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cBringing #Antigone to the Oscar race is not only a huge honour, it\u2019s also a way for me to highlight &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":231786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-adina-bresge","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231787,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231785\/revisions\/231787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}