Chinese wartime romance, The Knot, a holder of several
domestic film awards, is set to vie for glory at the film
industry's most prominent awards, the Oscars.
Actress Li Bingbing and actor Chen Kun are
seen in the Chinese romance, The Knot, which has been
selected to become the candidate from the Chinese mainland to
compete for Oscar nominations for best foreign-language
film.
The film has beaten the Golden Lion-nominated The Sun Also
Rises to become the candidate from the Chinese mainland to
compete for Oscar nominations for best foreign-language film,
Tuesday's Beijing Morning Post cited the State
Administration of Radio, Film and Television, which finalized the
selection.
The final list of five nominations will be announced in late
January, ahead of the 80th Academy Awards night on February 24,
2008.
The film's director, Yin Li, said he has yet to receive any
information.
Yin Li was just back to Beijing from the Rio International Film
Festival held in the Brazilian city of Rio, where The Knot
was screened.
He said he had no qualms that the film would pose a cultural
barrier to Western audiences, citing its successful Rio screening
as a proof.
The Knot was the best film at this year's Huabiao
Awards, the top official honor for Chinese films. It also won a
special jury award at the Shanghai International Film Festival in
June.
The film will form a Chinese-language power at the Oscars with
Taiwan-born director Ang Lee's Golden Lion-winning Lust,
Caution and Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To's
Exiled.
Lust, Caution is Taiwan's submission, and the gangster
flick "Exiled" will represent Hong Kong.
This year's selection for Chinese-language Oscar submissions
encountered twists and turns, as Jiang Wen's The Sun Also
Rises was first replaced by Johnnie To's Exiled for
Hong Kong's candidacy and later lost to The Knot in
representing the mainland.
Peter Chan's The Warlords, the previous mainland
candidate, was dropped from the bill due to disputes among its
investors.
Actress?Xu Ruoxuan?and actor
Chen Kun are seen in the Chinese romance, The
Knot.
A poster of the Chinese
romance, The Knot, which has been selected to become the
candidate from the Chinese mainland to compete for Oscar
nominations for best foreign-language film.
(CRI.cn October 9, 2007)
