THE 67TH ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS : Three Nominations May Have Kieslowski Seeing ‘Red’

The big Oscar news on the foreign film front was a movie that was ineligible in that category. The French-language “Red,” from Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski, was disqualified from contention as best foreign film (it was submitted by Switzerland, but directed by a Pole and in French with several French actors), but popped up in three mainstream Oscar categories--best director, best original screenplay and best cinematography.

Kieslowski, a critical darling, is the first director of a foreign film to be represented in the directing category since 1987, when Swede Lasse Halstrom was nominated for “My Life as a Dog.”

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“It was a complete surprise,” said Kieslowski by telephone from Poland, “a total surprise.” He said that he hoped the nominations were not just a protest against the film’s being declared ineligible for best foreign film, but that “they (the academy) genuinely found something of merit in the film.”

“Red” is the final segment of Kieslowski’s “Three Colors” trilogy, and he has said it will be his last film. (“White” was the official Polish entry this year, but did not make the final cut.)

Kieslowski is not the first director to be honored by the academy in other categories even though his film was ineligible as foreign film. Japanese director Akira Kurosawa received a best director nomination for “Ran,” which was not eligible for foreign film consideration because it opened in the wrong qualifying period; Agniewska Holland received a best screenplay nomination for “Europa, Europa,” which was ineligible as a foreign film because its country of origin, Germany, also did not submit it.

James Shamus, one of the producers of the Taiwanese foreign film nominee, “Eat Drink Man Woman,” said he thought the strong showing of foreign-language films and other independent films this year showed a new appreciation of non-major studio releases. “I guess you could say we’ve gone Hollywood,” Shamus said. “Or more to the point, Hollywood has gone us.”

The foreign-language film category was once dominated by countries like Italy, Japan, France, Sweden and the former Soviet Union, but this year’s entries are from Belgium (“Farinelli: Il Castrato”), Taiwan (“Eat Drink Man Woman”), Russia (“Burnt by the Sun”) and two countries represented for the first time: Cuba (“Strawberry and Chocolate”) and the newly created Macedonia (“Before the Rain”). The five finalists were chosen from a record 45 entries, and all five films have American distributors. Two of the films are already in release.

“Eat Drink,” the story of a widower and his three daughters, opened last year and has grossed more than $7 million in the United States to date. It is director Ang Lee’s second nomination in a row. His “The Wedding Banquet” was Taiwan’s entry last year. Both were released by the Samuel Goldwyn Co.

Based on the popularity of the two films, Shamus said, Lee has been hired to direct an adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility” starring Emma Thompson.

The recently released Miramax film “Strawberry and Chocolate,” from director Tomas Gutierrez Alea (“Memories of Underdevelopment”), deals frankly with homosexuality and is critical of Fidel Castro’s regime.

Milcho Manchevski’s “Before the Rain,” from Macedonia (formerly part of Yugoslavia), is a love story set against nationalistic strife. It is Gramercy’s first foreign film nominee and shared the Lion d’Or prize at last year’s Venice Film Festival. It opens Feb. 24.

When Manchevski learned of the nomination, he said, “I am glad that an obscure film from an obscure country was recognized.” Added Gramercy Pictures head Russell Schwartz, “Five films were submitted by the Serbo-Croatian bloc this year. I’m glad to see that one of them was recognized.”

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Belgium’s “Farinelli,” a musical drama about an 18th-Century castrato singer, and “Burnt by the Sun,” from Russia, are both from Sony Classics. Nominations and a possible win by one of their films will do much to raise their profiles, said company principals Michael Barker and Tom Bernard. This is the fourth time that the veteran specialty film executives (formerly of Orion Classics) have placed two films in the foreign category.

“Farinelli,” which opens March 17, has already won the Golden Globe for best foreign film and is director Gerard Corbiau’s second nomination. The first was in 1988 for “The Music Teacher.”

The Russian entry, “Burnt by the Sun,” is set in 1936 and deals with the Stalinist purges. It is scheduled for a July release. It was directed by Nikita Milalkov, who was previously nominated, in 1992, for “Close to Eden,” which was the first official Russian entry.