A drama about a family of German Jews who leave their homeland before World War II and settle on a farm in Kenya -- Nowhere in Africa -- won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film.
The Chinese martial arts epic Hero was defeated by the Germans.
That did not surprise its director Zhang Yimou who attended the Oscars pageant in a Chinese tunic suit, which media used to say always brings luck to him.
He told CCTV reporters before the ceremony that he didn't expect Hero to win, as the film shares the same theme with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which swept up the Oscars three years ago.
Zhang said he wants to help foreigners better understand Chinese culture through the film.
Hero made record box office takings in the domestic market at the end of last year.
Caroline Link directed the winning film and adapted the screenplay from a novel by Stefanie Zweig. The story follows the Redlichs family as they realize that the war and the Nazi Holocaust will make it impossible for them to return to Germany.
Other Oscar nominees for best foreign-language film were El Crimen del Padre Amaro from Mexico, Zus & Zo from the Netherlands and The Man Without a Past from Finland.
Aki Kaurismaki, who directed The Man Without a Past, stirred some attention for the category when he announced before the ceremony that he wouldn't attend because of the war in Iraq.
"We are not living in the most glorious moments of the history of mankind," Kaurismaki wrote in a letter. "Therefore, I nor anybody else from Sputnik Ltd can participate in the Oscar gala event at the same time the government of the United States is preparing a crime against humanity for the purpose of shameless economic interests."
(Eastday.com March 25, 2003)
