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Vladimir Menshov, Shock Russian Oscar Winner, Dies at 81

Vladimir Menshov, a prolific Soviet actor and director whose film “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears” won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1980 and surprised many American critics, died on July 5 in a Moscow hospital. He was 81.

Mosfilm, the Russian film studio and production company, said the cause was complications from Covid-19.

“Moscow doesn’t believe in tears”, a soapy, melodramatic crowd puller, attracted around 90 million moviegoers in the Soviet Union even after it was broadcast on television shortly after it was released in 1980. His theme song “Alexandra”, written by Sergey Nikitin and Tatyana Nikitina, became one of the most popular film music pieces in the country.

Still, when “Moscow”, only the second film directed by Mr. Menshov, won the Oscar, many moviegoers and critics were amazed at the competition this year. It was voted ahead of François Truffaut’s “The Last Metro” and Akira Kurosawa’s “The Shadow Warrior” as well as Spanish director Jaime de Armiñán’s “The Nest” and Hungarian director Istvan Szabo’s “Confidence”.

“There was more condescending benevolence behind the Oscar for ‘Moscow’ than aesthetic discrimination,” wrote Gary Arnold of the Washington Post when reviewing the film, which was released in the United States after it won an Oscar.

The film follows three girls, who were quartered in a Moscow hotel for young women in the late 1950s, in search of male company and revisits them 20 years later. It played Vera Alentova, the director’s wife and the mother of her daughter Yuliya Menshova, a television personality. Both survive him, along with two grandchildren.

Mr. Arnold noted that Mr. Menshov’s film “revived a genre that Hollywood couldn’t sustain, reliably it seems: the chronicle of provincial girls, usually a trio pursuing careers and / or friends in the big city” – a Genre that at the time ranged from “Bühnentor” (1938) to “Valley of the Puppets” (1967).

Vincent Canby of the New York Times admitted that the film was “played properly” but wrote that after two and a half hours it “appears endless”.

From time to time there are allusions to social satire, “wrote Mr. Canby,” but they are so mild that they could only surprise and interest an extremely prudish, unconstructed Stalinist. “

Although he found it understandable that “Moscow” was one of the most successful films in the Soviet Union, Mr. Canby concluded: “You can also believe that part of Mr. Menshov’s biography (included in the program) that reports that he was in the first three years failed. “at the Cinema Institute in Moscow and was not much more successful as an acting student at the Moscow Art Theater.”

He added sharply, “I assume we are being told these things to underscore the insignificance of these early failures which, however, appear to be summed up in his Oscar-winning actress.”

Vladimir Valentinovich Menshov was born on September 17, 1939 to a Russian family in Baku (now Azerbaijan). His father Valentin was an officer in the secret police. His mother, Antonina Aleksandrovna (Dubovskaya) Menshov, was a housewife.

As a teenager, Vladimir worked as a machine worker, miner and sailor before entering the Moscow Art Theater School. After graduating from school in 1965 and from the Gerasimov Institute for Cinematography in 1970, he worked for the Mosfilm, Lenfilm and Odessa Film studios.

He had more than 100 credits as an actor, including the hit “Night Watch” (2004) and was also a screenwriter. He made his directorial debut in 1976 with the film “Practical Joke”.

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Olympia Dukakis, Oscar Winner for ‘Moonstruck,’ Dies at 89

Olympia Dukakis, the confident, croaking actress who often played world-weary and worldly characters and won an Oscar for her role as such a woman in “Moonstruck”, died on Saturday at her Manhattan home. She was 89 years old.

Her death was announced by her brother, actor Apollo Dukakis, who said she was in hospice care.

Ms. Dukakis was 56 years old and an East Coast veteran of three decades when she starred in John Patrick Shanley’s “Moonstruck” (1987), a romantic comedy about a young Italian-American widow, Loretta Castorini (played by Cher), the life of a young woman it is turned upside down when she falls in love with her fiancé’s brother (Nicolas Cage). Ms. Dukakis stole scene after scene as Rose, Loretta’s sardonic mother, who saw the world clearly and advised accordingly.

“Do you love him, Loretta?” she asks her daughter, referring to the boring fiance. When Loretta says no, Rose replies, “Good. When you love them they drive you crazy because they know they can. “

The role earned Ms. Dukakis the 1988 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (Cher also won) and a host of other awards – that same year her cousin Michael Dukakis won the Democratic President nomination. The price resulted in more film roles.

She played a crazy southern widow in the mostly female cast of “Steel Magnolias” (1989); the mother of Kirstie Alley’s character in the three “Look Who’s Talking” films (1989-93); the growing transgender landlady of San Francisco, Anna Madrigal, from 1993 to 2019 in the four TV miniseries from Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City” stories; and Frank Sinatra’s mother Dolly in the 1992 television movie “Sinatra”.

That was a far cry from her first mature roles. At the age of 40 she had played the mother of 36-year-old Joseph Bologna in “Made for Each Other” (1971), and at 38 she was the mother of 32-year-old Dustin Hoffman in “John and Mary” (1969).

“I’ve always played older,” she told the New York Times in 2004. “I think it was the voice.”

She played different ages on the stage where her career began. And in a way, she owed it all to Nora Ephron.

Updated

April 26, 2021 at 12:32 AM ET

Ms. Ephron saw Ms. Dukakis in Christopher Durang’s Off Broadway play “The Marriage of Bette and Boo” and decided she wanted Ms. Dukakis in Mike Nichols’ 1986 film “Heartburn,” based on Ms. Ephron’s novel à Clef. Mr. Nichols then cast Ms. Dukakis on his next Broadway Social Security project. Norman Jewison saw “Social Security” and cast Ms. Dukakis in a film he was about to make: “Moonstruck”.

Despite the awards and her other successes on screen, Ms. Dukakis never gave up the theater work. In 2011 she starred in an off Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ “The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here”. Charles Isherwood, who reviewed her performance in The Times, called her “macabre, hilarious, and strangely touching” with an “attention-grabbing bullying valor.” The next year she played Prospero (actually Prospera) in “The Tempest” for Shakespeare & Company in Massachusetts.

Olympia Dukakis was born on June 20, 1931 in Lowell, Massachusetts, the elder of two children of Constantine and Alexandra (Christos) Dukakis, both Greek immigrants. Her father worked in a variety of settings including an ammunition factory, printing company, and Lever Brothers quality control department. He also started an amateur theater group.

Olympia graduated from Boston University with a degree in physiotherapy and practiced this profession. During the worst days of the mid-century polio epidemic, she traveled to West Virginia, Minnesota, and Texas. Eventually she made enough money to return to the BU and study theater.

Before receiving her MFA, she embarked on her new career, making her stage debut in a summer stock production of Outward Bound in Maine in 1956. She moved to New York in 1959 and made her New York stage debut the next year in “The Breaking Wall” at St. Mark’s Playhouse.

Her first screen appearance was in 1962 in the television series “Dr. Kildare. “Her first film role was an uncredited psychiatric patient in” Lilith “(1964). She received an Obie Award in 1963 for her role as widow Begbick, the canteen owner, in Bertolt Brecht’s drama” A Man is a Man “and another , 22 years later, for the role of the grandmother of Mr. Durang’s character in “The Marriage of Bette and Boo.”

On the way she married Louis Zorich, a fellow actor who had appeared with her in a production of “Medea” in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Together they helped found the Whole Theater Company in Montclair, New Jersey, where they lived while growing up children. The company produced Chekhov, Feigling, and Williams for nearly two decades. Ms. Dukakis also taught acting at New York University.

Mr. Zorich died in 2018. In addition to her brother, her three children Christina, Peter and Stefan Zorich survived. and four grandchildren.

In recent years she has played recurring characters on several television series, including “Bored to Death,” in which her character had a hot affair with Zach Galifianakis. In her last film, “Not to Forget”, due to open this year, she plays a judge who sentenced a millennium to care for his grandmother.

When The Toronto Sun asked her in 2003 if she wanted to retire, she replied, “From what? I love this messy, contradicting, loving mess that was my life. “

She reflected on her success in a 2001 interview with London’s The Guardian newspaper. “Maybe happiness comes to you for the same reason as bad,” she said. “It’s about understanding more: you learn a lot of things when you struggle and other things when you are what the world calls successful. Or maybe something just happens. Some days it’s cold and some days it’s hot. “

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Entertainment

Yuh-Jung Youn By no means Dreamed of Performing. Now She’s an Oscar Nominee for ‘Minari.’

For her 60th birthday, Korean veteran Yuh-Jung Youn made a promise to herself. She would only work with those she trusts. Even if her ventures fell short, she would not be particularly concerned about the outcome, as long as she personally valued the people who made them.

This late life philosophy, born of decades of limited choice and professional trauma, brought her to Minari, director Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-autobiographical story about a Korean family with roots in Arkansas. Youn’s bittersweet performance as grandmother Soonja in the affectionate immigration drama earned her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress, the first for a Korean actress.

“I, a 73-year-old Asian, could never have dreamed of being nominated for an Oscar,” said Youn on a video call from her home in Seoul. “‘Minari’ brought me a lot of presents.”

As she recounted this triumph and the many pitfalls that preceded it, her thoughtful expression often broke out into an affable smile, even happy laughter. Clad in a low-key black top and long necklace, her calm presence was effortlessly graceful. She got away with no rush or greeting, but was determined to make her ideas understandable. Occasionally she would ask a friend off camera for help with certain English words to pinpoint each point.

She was surprised that her co-star Steven Yeun was the first Asian-American artist to receive a nomination for best actor: “All I can say is, it’s time! The success of ‘Parasite’ has definitely helped Korean artists gain more recognition, she added.

This film, directed by Bong Joon Ho, was the first to win non-English best picture, and it has turned into Youn’s Oscar run in other ways.

She’d gotten back from filming a new project in Vancouver, British Columbia, an Apple TV drama called Pachinko, just in time to hear the announcement of her nomination. At first she felt numb. Then the Korean news media reported on their chances. “It is very stressful. They think I’m a soccer player or an Olympian, “she said, adding,” This pressure is really tough on me. “Because of Bong’s film,” they have hope that I can win. I keep telling him, “It’s all because of you!”

Bong, a fan of Kim Ki-Young’s “Woman of Fire,” the 1971 film in which Youn made her feature film debut, envied her awards season experience during the pandemic. “He said to me, ‘You’re lucky you can just sit down and make Zoom calls. America has a prize race and you have to go here and there and everywhere. ‘I thought races were only for horses,’ she said.

She makes a strong push to the goal. Youn is nominated for her performance and as part of the “Minari” ensemble at the SAG Awards on Sunday. She is also ready for an Independent Spirit Award later this month. And it has already received awards from more than 20 groups of critics.

It’s the final turn in a career spanning more than 50 years in Korean television and film – including a recent cooking reality show titled “Youn’s Kitchen” and a new non-fiction series in a guest house, “Youn’s Stay” – but the self – I never imagined a life in the performing arts. Her international breakthrough, like everything else along the way, seems to her by chance.

“It’s embarrassing,” she said. “Most people fell in love with the films or the theater. But in my case it was just an accident. “

When she was a teenager in the early 1960s, she attended an MC for a children’s game show on a television station and invited them to give presents to the audience: “After that, I got the check and it was good money.” Similar jobs followed until a director suggested she audition for a drama. Although she hesitated, she was driven by need: she had failed her college entrance exam and deeply embarrassed her mother.

“To tell the truth, I didn’t know what acting was,” she said. “I tried to memorize the line and do whatever they asked me to do. At the time, I didn’t know if I was enjoying it or if I didn’t like it. “

As it was on the rise in the mid-1970s, Youn married and moved to Florida, where her husband attended university. She spent nearly a decade as a housewife, raising her two American-born children. Then she divorced and returned to Korea as a single mother. Her fame was gone and the ingrained sexism in Korean society made her career resumption a cruel affair. “The audience called and said, ‘She’s divorced. She shouldn’t be on TV, “she recalled, adding,” Now they like me a lot. It’s very strange, but it’s human. ”

In order to send her two sons to college, she accepted parts almost indiscriminately. But when she was 60 and was no longer obliged to support her family financially, she could only invest in people she believed in, like the writer Hong Sang-soo, who occasionally frustrates her for the many recordings he requested , and Im Sang-soo, who cast her in roles unknown to a Korean actress of her age. In “The Taste of Money” (2013), for example, Youn embodies a powerful woman who sexually harasses her younger male secretary.

Youn’s close friend, producer In-Ah Lee, introduced her to Chung, the director of Minari, at a film festival in Busan. Chung adored her like Bong in “Woman of Fire” and impressed her with his knowledge or her early work. She wanted to know more about him. “Everyone is teasing me about it now,” she said. “I fell in love with Isaac because he is a very calm man. I wish he were my son too. “

In each film, Chung said via email, “She does something that is surprising or unexpected. I felt that her own life and approach to life was very close to the part I had written. He added that the actress is known in South Korea for her big heart and matter-of-fact manner, and he knew she would bring those qualities to the role of Minari “in an audience-inviting way.”

Critic Kristen Yoonsoo Kim wrote for The Nation and said that Youn “steals the limelight; Even if she leans towards caricature, her Soonja brings the much-needed humor and vitality to a drama that could otherwise easily go to its knees. “(Kim’s reviews also appear in the New York Times.)

When Youn read the script, the dangers of the Korean-American experience and how it doesn’t exactly fit into a single identity carried along with her. “Maybe I made this film for my two sons because I knew how they felt,” she said.

Chung convinced her when she asked if he wanted her to imitate his grandmother, and he replied that this was not his goal. She valued the freedom to create a character that goes beyond what’s on the page. Still, it was Chung’s sensitive approach that she valued.

She remembered the chaotic first day of filming Minari in the heat of Tulsa, Okla. Chung could see she was suffering, Youn recalled. “I could feel his respect and I was worried.”

In contrast, she admitted, she thought that the many scenes she shared with the inexperienced young actor Alan S. Kim, who plays her grandson, would test her patience. I thought, ‘It’s going to be miserable. What should I do with this one? ‘”But when she noticed that the boy had memorized his lines, her concern disappeared. She shares his work ethic.

Intensive preparation had always served Youn as a shield against self-confidence about her background. “I didn’t go to drama school or study film, so I had an inferiority complex. I was practicing so hard when I got a script, ”she explained.

But she is skeptical about further prospects in Hollywood. Youn, who often apologized during the interview for how bluntly she believed she was sounding in a language that wasn’t her own, fears that her lack of English could be an obstacle. But if she has time to learn her dialogue, she’s ready to try.

“Come to think about it, it was all worth it,” said Youn. “At the time, I only had minor roles and most people hated me. I’ve been thinking about just quitting or going back to the States. “But she is a survivor, she added. “I’m still alive and finally enjoying acting.”

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Inside Husavik’s Oscar Bid for a ‘Eurovision Track Contest’ Movie Anthem

HUSAVIK, Iceland – In the back room of an empty seaside hotel one Monday, a group of locals anxiously gathered around a computer to broadcast live the 93rd Academy Awards nominations, waiting to see if their campaign was successful.

The good news came shortly after 1 p.m. and residents heard the name of their town say again in an American accent: “Husavik”, a song from the Netflix movie “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”. was nominated for the best original song.

The song takes its name from this tiny coastal town that is also home to the main characters in the film, and residents have been working for weeks to give the song an Oscar nomination.

“I’m sick of it,” when I heard the news, said Orlygur Orlygsson, 37, one of the activists gathered at the hotel. “The film gave Husavik worldwide recognition, and we wanted to do the same for the song.” Still, he was shocked by the nomination, he said.

Orlygsson is possibly the most famous fan of “Fire Saga” among the 2,300 people who live in this port city on the north coast of Iceland. He owns a cafe called Ja Ja Ding Dong, named after a silly song from the movie. And in February, when “Husavik” was one of the 15 titles on the academy’s longlist for best song, Orlygsson launched the campaign to convince members of the academy to nominate him.

“Fire Saga” tells the story of two musicians from Husavik, played by Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams. The couple – who are “probably not” brother and sister – are selected by default to represent Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest after a ship exploded with more prominent Icelandic singers.

Let’s go into the world of “neon lights and billboards”, although in the end they find that there is no place like home. “Husavik” is their Eurovision act, the triumphant climax of the film.

When the film hit Netflix in June, critics weren’t impressed. Jeannette Catsoulis wrote in her review for the New York Times: “This covered farce whips slapstick and cheese into an authentic soufflé of tastelessness.”

But fans of the Eurovision Song Contest, which draws 200 million television viewers each year, embraced the film in a pandemic year when the actual competition was canceled for the first time since its inception in 1956. And once the residents of Husavik started their online campaign, thousands of these fans spread the word on social media.

The campaign shows a fictional Husavik resident named Oskar Oskarsson, who raves about the city in a video published on the campaign website, in which only “another Oskar” is missing.

In the ironic video, a woman pretends that a fish is an Oscar statue and residents leave gifts to elves to help with the campaign. “People in Husavik are very excited,” said the campaign website.

The video was viewed up to 200,000 times on YouTube and social media platforms, according to the organizers.

The actor in the video is Sigurdur Illugason, a local house painter who is now performing in the musical “Little Shop of Horrors” in the Husavik Theater Club for a masked audience of 50 people.

Kristjan Magnusson, the mayor of Husavik, said the main value of the campaign is to lift the spirits of the people in the city. “The fun of getting together for a big project is the most important thing,” he said. “The rest is a bonus.”

Molly Sanden, who sings for McAdams’ character on the track, praised the Husavik people for gathering behind the song. “The campaign shows that the city has the heart and the spirit that the song is about,” she said in a telephone interview from her home in Sweden.

She said she hoped to visit Husavik once the pandemic is over to see the mountains, northern lights and seagulls described in the song lyrics.

The lyrics could apply to most of Iceland’s coastal communities, and the demo of the song was written with Husavik as a placeholder before the film’s director and producers visited Iceland to decide on a location for their film.

“I first heard a demo of the song when we were driving around Iceland looking for locations,” said Leifur Dagfinnsson, who runs the local production company True North that worked on Fire Saga.

The original plan, he said, was to find a town in the southern half of the island near the capital, Reykjavik, in order to save money on transportation. Husavik is closer to the Arctic Circle and has never been the setting for an international film production.

But the strong demonstration with Husavik was the decisive factor in favor of the northern city.

“Husavik is easier to pronounce than other Icelandic city names,” said Dagfinnsson. That gave him a clear textual advantage over Stykkisholmur (Stikk-is-hohlm-ur), a town he said “made sense from a budgetary point of view”.

Husavik has more whale watching boats than fishing vessels, and unlike the town in Fire Saga, there are half a dozen bars.

Tourism is the city’s main industry, and part of the reason a group of adults had time to campaign for the song is the widespread underemployment created by the pandemic. Residents hope that tourists will sing the city’s name in their car’s GPS as soon as Iceland allows vaccinated foreign visitors.

Leonardo Piccione, an Italian artist who lives in Husavik, noted that the tiny town had linked “two of the greatest television events in the world” and added, “I think you can work with that.”

The activists hope to build on the popularity of the Oscar nomination to open a Eurovision museum next to Café Ja Ja Ding Dong with memorabilia from Icelandic contestants who have never won the competition. And of course they will post more Oskar Oskarsson videos when the Academy members start voting next month.

It is widely predicted that “Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami” or Golden Globe winner “Io Si (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead” will win the best original song. Also nominated are “Fight for You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7”, the third Netflix film in this category.

Win or lose, “Husavik” is now part of the urban fabric. The local soccer team, the Volsungs, play the pre-game soundtrack, and the children’s choir regularly plays the Icelandic portion of the song.

Fire Saga executive producer Savan Kotecha co-wrote the lyrics for the song using Google Translate for the Icelandic lines and Google Street View to get a feel for the city.

“It never occurred to me that the song would have a special meaning for the people there,” he said in an interview. “Now we really want to win for Husavik.”

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The Swag Should Go On: Hollywood’s Pandemic Oscar Marketing campaign

These blocks are usually full of voters; Paramount Pictures is there, as is Raleigh Studios, where Netflix rents production space. With most of the people in Los Angeles still holed up at home, the thoroughfare was eerily quiet at 5:30 p.m. last Monday. Actual crickets chirped at Paramount’s closed Bronson Gate, which had a sign that read, “By government order, access to the studio is now restricted. “

Funny at best, absurd at worst?

“The public must be so confused,” said Ms. Stone.

None of the studios or streaming services looking for awards would comment on this article. Campaigns are commonplace but remain a taboo subject. No film company wants to look like it is trying to manipulate voters.

However, it’s easy to understand where they come from.

“Like a political campaign, you have to rise at the right moment,” said Paul Hardart, director of entertainment, media and technology programs at New York University’s Stern School of Business. “At this point, you need the maximum exposure. And that’s hard to do. How do you get up to date at the right time? “

So the prey must go on.

As part of its promotion for Nomadland about an impoverished van resident, Searchlight Pictures sent a bound copy of the script to voters. The Hollywood press corps received “Nomadland” wine glasses, a “Nomadland” license plate, “Nomadland” key rings, a “Nomadland” t-shirt and a 5 x 2 foot “Nomadland” sunscreen.

To celebrate the virtual premiere of the film on February 18, Searchlight, in collaboration with local small businesses, delivered a “curated concession box” to the homes of the invited people. This included artisanal beef dried meat, jam with wild berries, oranges, pears, dried apricots, dill cucumber slices, banana bread, salami (“humanly raised”) and a chocolate canister.

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‘Eurovision Music Contest’ and ‘Borat’ Advance to the Oscar Shortlist

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” got one step closer to Oscar nomination on Tuesday when the Academy of the Arts and Sciences for Feature Films announced their shortlists in nine categories.

“Wuhan Flu” from the sequel to “Borat” and “Husavik” from the Will Ferrell comedy about European competition were developed along with 13 other pieces in the original song category. 92 songs, including “Just Sing” from “Trolls World Tour”, didn’t make the cut.

Members of the various branches will vote on the final five candidates from March 5-9. Oscar nominations will be announced on March 15th.

In the documentary category, 238 controversial films were reduced to 15. Favorites that are still in the mix include Netflix’s “Dick Johnson Is Dead”, “Crip Camp” and “My Octopus Teacher”. Also controversial are Amazon’s “All In: The Fight for Democracy” and “MLK / FBI”. Neither Netflix’s popular “The Social Dilemma” nor Bryan Febel’s “The Dissident” about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi were on the list.

In the international feature film category, 93 countries have submitted the most films, but only 15 are left. Denmark’s “Another Round” was an early favorite and was put on a shortlist. Director Thomas Vinterberg’s film shows Mads Mikkelsen as a high school teacher in the midst of a midlife crisis. Also popular is the “Charlatan” submitted by the Czech Republic by the Polish director Agnieszka Holland.

Voters from all branches of the academy are eligible to vote on the international feature category, but must meet a minimum viewing requirement to do so. The group selected films from around the world, including Ivory Coast (“Night of the Kings”), Guatemala (“La Llorona”) and Tunisia (“The Man Who Sells His Skin”).

The Academy also published shortlists for the short film categories, hair and makeup, visual effects, and original score. For these competitors, go to oscars.org. Here are the shortlists for original songs, documentaries, and international features.

“Turntables” (from “All In: The Struggle for Democracy”)

“See what you did” (“Belly of the Beast”)

“Wuhan Flu” (“Borat Subsequent Movie Film”)

“Husavik” (“Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”)

“Never Break” (“give a vote”)

“Make It Work” (“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey”)

“Fight for you” (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)

“Lo Sì (seen)” (“Life ahead”)

“Rain Song” (“Minari”)

“Show me your soul” (“Mr. Soul!”)

“Loyal Brave True” (“Mulan”)

“Free” (“The only Ivan”)

“Speak Now” (“One Night in Miami”)

“Green” (“Sound of Metal”)

“Hear my voice” (“The Trial of Chicago 7”)

“All In: The Fight for Democracy”

“Boys State”

“Collective”

“Crip Camp”

“Dick Johnson is dead”

“Gunda”

“MLK / FBI”

“The Mole Agent”

“My Octopus Teacher”

“Night”

“The painter and the thief”

“76 days”

“Time”

“The Truffle Hunters”

“Welcome to Chechnya”

Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Quo Vadis, Aida?”

Chile, “The Mole Agent”

Czech Republic, “Charlatan”

Denmark, “another round”

France, “Two of Us”

Guatemala, “La Llorona”

Hong Kong, “Better Days”

Iran, “sun children”

Ivory Coast, “Night of the Kings”

Mexico, “I’m not here anymore”

Norway, “hope”

Romania, “collective”

Russia, “Dear Comrades!”

Taiwan, “One Sun”

Tunisia, “The Man Who Sells His Skin”