The Good Road to compete with 76 films in Oscars 2013

Los Angeles: India’s ‘The Good Road’, a Gujarati film by first-time director Gyan Correa, is among theb 76 movies that will compete in the foreign language category at the 86th Academy Awards. ‘The Good Road’, a lost and found story of a boy in the desert of Kutch, created some uproar in India after it was chosen over more popular and festivals winner ‘The Lunchbox’. [caption id=“attachment_1160675” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Courtesy: ibn live[/caption] Other notable entries this year include ‘The Past’, Iranian entry by Oscar-winner Asgar Farhadi, starring ‘The Artist’ star Berenice Bejo. Farhadi earlier won the best foreign Oscar for his divorce drama ‘A Separation’. Thomas Vinterberg’s critically acclaimed ‘The Hunt’, about a man wrongly accused by a child of molestation, is vying for an Oscar from Denmark with another Cannes favourite –Paolo Sorrentini’s ‘The Great Beauty’ from Italy. Pakistan’s entry is Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi’s ‘Zinda Bhaag’ that also stars Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah. Nepal has entered Subarna Thapa’s ‘Soongava: Dance of the Orchids’. This year, the category has first-time countries in Moldova and Saudi Arabia. Haifaa Al Mansour ‘Wadjda’, about a young girl’s desire to own a bicycle, is Saudi Arabia’s entry. Afghanistan has entered ‘Wajma An Afghan Love Story’ by director Barmak Akram. Argentina has submitted ‘The German Doctor’ by helmer Lucia Puenzo while Austria, which won the foreign film Oscar last year for Michael Haneke’s ‘Amour’ has entered Julian Polsler’s ‘The Wall’ this year. France’s official entry this year is ‘Renoir’ directed by Gilles Bourdos. Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s beautiful film ‘Television’, is Bangladesh’s entry. Danis Tanovic, whose ‘No Man’s Land’ won the 2002 Oscar, is in the race again with ‘An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker’ from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tanovic is directing Emraan Hashmi in his next and co-produced ‘The Lunchbox’. Egypt’s entry is director Ibrahim El Batout’s ‘Winter of Discontent’, which deals with events that led up to the Tahrir Square uprising. Celebrated helmer Wong Kar-wai’s ‘The Grandmaster’, about the life of martial-arts master Ip Man, is Hong Kong’s entry to the Oscars while China has entered Feng Xiaogang’s patriotic drama ‘Back to 1942’. Japan has overlooked favoured ‘Like Father, Like Son’ for ‘The Great Passage’ as its entry. The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on January 16, 2014 while the award ceremony will take place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. PTI