Film Studies in Hollywood - Essay Example

Filmmakers around the world who have a profound sense of skill share their art in various forms of filmmaking. These films are then presented to the world in their language as if the film is spoken in English, the audience won’t relate to the same thought process as to what is being depicted in the film’s native tongue. The foreign film award promotes a sense of awareness of other cultures and practices which differ from Hollywood mainstream practices.

To qualify for the award, one of the primary requirements is that the majority of the film is presented in a language other than English although this is not necessarily required to be the language of the country that produced it and must first be released in the theatrical format in a country other than the United States. The significance of this is that language has a great deal to do with our perceptions of the world. Word choice is important in any language to convey the nuances of meaning intended by the author. When it is then translated into English for an English-speaking audience, much of this nuance can be lost.  According to scholar Benjamin Whorf, language also works internally to shape thoughts and emotions to help us understand our perception of reality (cited in Kilgour, 1999). By presenting these films in their native (meaning original) language, the Academy is fostering recognition that important thoughts and ideas are pursued in other countries as well as the United States and bringing the focus of these films into the mainstream theater audience, who might otherwise have missed them.

This is significant when one considers the impact of foreign films such as Life is Beautiful (1998), an Italian film directed by Roberto Benigni. In this film, the director (and star) illustrates the dichotomy between pre and post-war Italy as it is seen in the lives of members of one family. The beginning of the film presents a comedic romance between the Jewish Guido and the love of his life, Dora up to a point at which the couple has a five-year-old boy and begins to reconnect with Dora’s socialite mother. However, Nazi sentiment finally reaches them and Guido and Joshua, the son are arrested and sent to a concentration camp with Dora volunteering to get on the train as a means of staying close to her family. The remainder of the film demonstrates a father’s deep and abiding love for his child as he struggles to keep the ugly truth away from Joshua while also struggling to keep Joshua and himself alive and Dora reassured that they are well. The film captures both the beauty of love and the terror of war and proved inspiring to numerous viewers throughout the world.

Perhaps because of the more limited opportunity for competition, most of these films address difficult topics that haven’t been addressed before or that haven’t been addressed in this way before. Only one film per country is permitted to enter the competition and one of the criteria is that the nominating country has had some input into the film’s final presentation. This also means that the film submitted for the competition is arguably the best film the country has to offer for the year, even when several films may run a close second. This elimination process varies from country to country, but it can be assumed that the film submitted for the award each year represents, to some greater degree than any others presented, the ideals that the country wishes to promote regarding itself.