Oscar hopes in South Africa

South Africa on Wednesday toasted its first film nominated for an Oscar, hoping the poignant story of a woman’s battle with AIDS will help its fledgling film industry take flight.

Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan said he was confident that the nomination of “Yesterday” as best foreign language film, along with the three nominations for “Hotel Rwanda,” which was filmed in Johannesburg, “will open up further opportunities for a wide range of players in our young film industry.”

“Yesterday,” a drama about a woman in a rural village who discovers she is HIV-positive, was the first feature film made in Zulu, South Africa’s most widely spoken language.