The Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) today announced that Juanita Wilson’s ‘As If I Am Not There’ will be Ireland’s submission for the Foreign Language category for the 2012 Academy Awards.
‘As If I Am Not There’ is set in during the Balkan war of the 1990s and tells the story of a young schoolteacher from Sarajevo whose life is changed forever when Serbian soldiers overrun the village and send the women to be imprisoned in a warehouse in remote Bosnia. The film is shot primarily in the Serbo-Croatian language, filmed on location in Macedonia in 2009.
Irish writer/director behind the feature, Juanita Wilson, was previously nominated for an Academy Award in 2010 for her live action screening ‘The Door’. Speaking about the selection of her debut feature for Foreign Language Submission, she said ”It’s great to have my work recognised in this way and a tribute to my team.”
‘As If I Am Not There’ has already been much lauded both in Ireland and internationally, winning three IFTA Awards earlier this year, including Best Film, and recently featured in the Official Selection List for the European Film Awards.
CEO of IFTA Áine Moriarty commented on the selection saying “This film will be such a strong contender this year for Ireland in this Oscar category, representing the very best of Irish creative talent.”
’As If I Am Not There’ is produced by James Flynn and Nathalie Lichtenthaeler of Ireland’s Octagon Films and Wide Eye Films respectively, the film’s Irish crew includes cinematographer Tim Fleming (Once) and editor Nathan Nugent (Waveriders).
This is Ireland’s 2nd submission for the US Academy’s Foreign Language Film category following Tom Collins’ Irish-language drama ‘Kings’, which was chosen for consideration in 2009. All countries outside of the US may submit one eligible film for contention. Other recent submissions include Asghar Farhadi’s ‘A Separation’ from Iran and Valérie Donzelli’s ‘Declaration of War (La Guerre Est declare)’ for France.
‘As If I Am Not There’ is an official Irish/Macedonian/Swedish co-production from Octagon Films, Wide Eye Films, Sektor Film Skopje and Stella Nova Films with financial contribution from the Irish Film Board, the Swedish Film Institute/Film I Vast, Macedonian Film Fund, Section 481 investment and Eurimages.
For more information visit on the Irish submission, visit www.ifta.ie.
