The prominent film industry publication Variety reports the latest news about the Latvian-Norwegian animated film My Favorite War. It has been sold to distributors in France and Spain, competes for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Awards nomination, and after winning the competition in the Annecy Festival, the film qualifies for the world’s highest prize in animation – Annie Award.
Published: 15.01.2021.
Variety reports http://bit.ly/MyFavoriteWarVariety that My Favorite War (2020) based on the director’s Ilze Burkovska-Jacobsen’s childhood memories will be submitted in the animate feature race at the Academy Awards and has reached the European film distribution network – Versus Entertainment in Spain and Destiny Films in France have acquired the rights to distribute the film. Variety reminds its readers that professionals started to notice the Latvian-Norwegian co-production after its victory in the Annecy Festival competition Contrechamp. This victory allows the film to qualify for the Annie Award – the most representative accolade in the world of animation awarded by ASIFA-Hollywood (International Animated Film Association) https://annieawards.org/.
“The film has been a labor of love for Ilze for more than nine years,” says Norwegian producer Trond Jacobsen. The Latvian producer Guntis Trekteris (Ego Media) adds, “The greatest value of My Favorite War is the fact that it differs from other animated films both in its form and content, so we are very honoured that the accomplishment of Ilze and the whole creative team has been so highly appreciated so far. Any awards and nominations help us do an important job – successfully distribute the film so that it reaches the widest possible audience around the world.”
The gratifying fact that My Favorite War is currently relevant in the context of the Oscars race is especially noted by in New York (USA), which is highly active in screening Baltic and Nordic films. In January, the Scandinavian House is holding special online screenings for all films from the region submitted for the Academy Awards. Screenings are scheduled for the weekends, starting from 7 January. Viewers can buy online tickets for the Latvian Blizzard of Souls as well as for films from Iceland, Denmark and Estonia. The second session of the online festival starting on 14 January will feature Swedish, Norwegian, Lithuanian and Finnish films, while the full-length animated film My Favorite War will be available in the United States from 21 January to 24 January. (more information: http://www.scandinaviahouse.org/events/nordic-baltic-oscar-festival-virtual-session-3/)
This year, the Academy Awards ceremony will take place for the 93rd time, but due to the pandemic it has been postponed by eight weeks. Instead of the traditional end of February date, the awards ceremony is now set for 25 April. Other important dates have been changed accordingly – the so-called Oscar Short Lists will be announced on 9 February, and the Oscar-nominated films will be announced on 15 March.
My Favourite War is available for viewing on https://vimeo.com/ondemand/mansmilakaiskars .
Prepared by Kristīne Matīsa
Senior Officer of the National Film Centre
+371 2612 9954 kristine.matisa@nkc.gov.lv