Foreign Language Film Submissions 2018

The Wedding Ring or Zin’naariya is a Nigerian drama-romance film written and directed by Rahmatou Keita, a Nigerian journalist, writer and film director whose career began in 1990. It is about Tiyaa, a young woman who is a member of an aristocratic family and who returns to her home for the winter holidays in the Sultanate of Damagaran in Niger Republic, after finishing college abroad.

Based loosely on a real-life incident, The Journey tells a spare and streamlined story that exists at the intersection of the political and the personal. Co-written and directed by Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji, who lost a close cousin and many other family members in the protracted and bloody Iran-Iraq War, the movie is a psychological drama that examines the issues of extremism and sectarian violence.

Spitak, is a town and urban municipal community in the northern Lori Province of Armenia. It is 96 km north of the capital, Yerevan, and 22 km west of the provincial center of Vanadzor.

Those foolishly thinking that Hollywood has an exclusive license on big-budget, patriotic movies based on real-life military exploits would be well advised to check out Operation Red Sea, a brawny, sprawling and surprisingly bloody and graphic action film from screenwriter Feng Ji and director Dante Lam. Detailing an escalating series of rescue missions, the Mandarin-language film, touted in local media as China’s first modern naval film, is a highly experiential, international cinematic call-and-response to movies like Black Hawk Down, Lone Survivor and American Sniper.

Memoir of War is French director Emmanuel Finkiel’s adaptation of  Marguerite Duras’ semi-autobiographical novel “The War: A Memoir”. It stars Mélanie Thierry (The Princess of Montpensier) as Duras.

Sulla Mia Pelle (On My Skin) reconstructs the events surrounding the death of Stefano Cucchi, a youngster taken into custody by the Italian military police (Carabinieri) in Rome, in 2008. Only recently, ten years after the mysterious events, and thanks to the relentless militancy and campaigning by his sister Ilaria, the truth about Cucchi’s death was unveiled, uncovering a major case of police brutality, corruption and cover-up.

When this big screen adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet was released in movie theaters in Georgia, not many people knew the secret behind it: Georgian actor/director Giorgi Megrelishvili filmed his movie entirely using mobile phones. Megrelishvili also set the original text in modern-day Georgia, an idea the director says he had been mulling for some time but was only recently able to bring to fruition.

1980 is the year that tennis fans consider the most important in the history of the sport. It was the year the most epic battle took place on the fields of Wimbledon, the one that changed the face of the sport forever: when reigning champion Björn Borg met up-and-comer John McEnroe, his challenger for his fifth championship win.

Five of the year’s very best international films were nominated for a Foreign Language Golden Globe. Capernaum (Lebanon), Girl (Belgium), Never Look Away (Germany), Roma (Mexico) and Shoplifters (Japan) will vie for the honor in a year in which an exceptionally strong field made for a challenging decision for voters.

Cell phone reception is something many take for granted, but in some parts of the world, people may have to go travel to the next town or city to be able to make or receive a call or text message on their mobile devices. In the case of Signal Rock, by Chito Roño, residents of a remote island village have to climb a gigantic rock formation along the seashore to get a signal.