Recently IFTA picked Paddy Breathnach’s Spanish language feature Viva as Ireland’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards. Today the Polish Film Institute announced that it will be joined in the race by the Irish/Polish co-production 11 Minutes, from director Jerzy Skolimowski.
The Polish Film Institute selection committee is headed by Pawel Pawlikowski, who last year won the award with his gorgeous film Ida.
11 Minutes stars Richard Dormer (Good Vibrations, ’71, Game of Thrones) in the lead role of a film director. It follows the same 11 minutes in the lives of several different characters; young and old, prosperous and destitute. Some story elements surprisingly intertwine, others follow their own intricate rhythm. Some characters are shown just as they are about to make crucial life changing decisions, others are idly passing time, caught in the midst of their day?to?day routines. What they all have in common is an enigmatic sighting of the elusive dark spot, seen in the sky earlier that day, and the tragic chain of events that will seal their fate. What really caused it? Did all of them deserve it? Could any of them avoid it? What is the fabric of life? These lingering questions constitute the film’s underlying theme.
11 Minutes stars an ensemble of other Polish actors including Agata Buzek, Beata Tyszkiewicz and Mateusz Ko?ciukiewicz. It is produced by Ewa Piaskowska of Skopia Film and co-produced by Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney of Element Pictures. The film received funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board.
Scannain gave 11 Minutes 4 stars following its appearance at the recent Venice Film Festival. It follows on from there with an appearance at the London Film Festival next month.
On January 14th 2016, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) will announce which five films have been nominated from all of the international entries to go forward in the final line-up to compete for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
The 88th Academy Awards will take place in Hollywood on February 28th, 2016.