Persepolis Off Oscar Category

Marjane Satrapi's animated film Persepolis is no longer in contention for the Best Foreign Language Film category at this year's Academy Awards, according to AMPAS' website.

Despite sharing the 2007 Cannes Jury Prize with Mexico's Stellet Licht, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to rule Persepolis out of contention for that category. Stellet Licht had also been eliminated from contention, as was last year's Palme d'Or winner, Romania's Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days.

The remaining 9 foreign-language films are as follows:

1. Austria's The Counterfeiters (Stefan Ruzowitzky, director)
2. Brazil's The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (Cao Hamburger, director)
3. Canada's Days of Darkness (Denys Arcand, director)
4. Israel's Beaufort (Joseph Cedar, director)
5. Italy's The Unknown Woman (Giuseppe Tornatore, director)
6. Kazakhstan's Mongol (Sergei Bodrov, director)
7. Poland's Katyn (Andrzej Wajda, director)
8. Russia's 12 (Nikita Mikhalkov, director)
9. Serbia's The Trap (Srdan Golubovic, director)

Persepolis Can Still Be An Animated Film

However, Persepolis is still officially in contention for the Best Animated Feature Film award. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still hasn't cut down the finalists for that category, and Persepolis is still on the list, along with 11 other films.

They include the anime Tekkonkinkreet, the Neil Gaiman-scripted Beowulf, the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie, Bee Movie, Meet the Robinsons, Ratatouille, Shrek the Third, The Simpsons Movie, Surf's Up, and the Hong Kong-based TMNT. Alvin and the Chipmunks was recently culled from that list, after Academy voters decided it didn't contain enough animation to qualify for the category.

The big question now is whether Persepolis has the stature to advance to the finals in the animated category. Because there were less than 16 semi-finalists to begin with, there will only be 3 finalists for the awards night on February 14th.

Based on box office alone, Ratatouille and The Simpsons Movie should have two nomination spots locked up. DreamWorks Animation's Shrek the Third is the big moneymaker on the list, but its dismal reviews will likely eliminate it from contention. However, the same studio's Bee Movie was a Golden Globes finalist (along with The Simpsons Movie and Ratatouille), and that same scenario will likely end up at the Oscars.

If that happens, a win for Ratatouille is fairly assured, since it was the biggest moneymaker and got the best reviews of those three movies. It also won against those two movies at the Golden Globes ceremony.

If Persepolis does make it to the final 3 on Oscar night, it has a solid shot of taking the title. Many animators considered it superior to Ratatouille, and the Jury Prize plus its controversy speak in its favour. However, Ratatouille is still the odds-on favourite to take the Oscar, based on its stellar reviews and Pixar pedigree.

scene from Persepolis

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