The Portuguese films ‘Ice Merchants’, ‘O homem do lixo’ and ‘O lobo solitário’ are trying today for an unprecedented nomination for the Oscars, the North American film awards, on the day that the candidates for the 95th edition are revealed.
The United States Film Academy today releases the full list of nominees in 23 categories and the ceremony is scheduled for March 12 in Los Angeles, California.
This year, and for the first time, there are three Portuguese films finalists for an Oscar nomination in two categories.
‘Ice Merchants’, by João Gonzalez, and ‘O homem do lixo’, by Laura Gonçalves, are seeking a nomination for the Oscar of Best Animated Short Film.
In the running for nominations for Best Short Film is the film ‘O lobo solitário’, by Filipe Melo.
In animation cinema, Portugal was closest to the nominations with director Regina Pessoa, who was twice among the finalists, with the short films ‘História Trágica com Final Final Feliz’ (2005) and ‘Tio Tomás, A Contabilidade dos Dias’ (2019).
Daniel Sousa, Portuguese of Cape Verdean origin and based in the United States, was nominated in 2014 with the short animation ‘Feral’, a North American production.
In the nominations process, the academy revealed this month a list of 301 films that meet requirements for a nomination, and among them are three featuring Alba Baptista, Carloto Cotta and Luso-Guinean Welket Bungué, who are considered eligible in the area of acting.
Alba Baptista is nominated for the film ‘A Dream in Paris’, Carloto Cotta appears for the film ‘You won’t be alone’, and Welket Bungué for the film ‘Future Crimes’.
In the history of these awards, Portuguese cinema has no statuettes and has never been nominated, with the exception of some professionals working outside Portugal.
The best known case is photography director Eduardo Serra, nominated twice for the Oscars, for the films ‘The Wings of Love’ (1997) and ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ (2003), although he did not win.
In the 1980s, Portuguese businessman Carlos de Mattos, based in the United States, won two Oscars in technical categories, on behalf of a company that supplied equipment for cinema.
Luís Sequeira and Nelson Ferreira, Canadians of Portuguese origin, have already been nominated for the Oscars in 2018, in the categories of best wardrobe and sound editing, respectively, for the film “The Shape of Water”, by Guillermo del Toro.
Luís Sequeira was nominated again in 2022 with the film ‘Nightmare Alley — Alley of Lost Souls’, also by the Mexican director.
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