Danielle Solzman
- Chile, “A Fantastic Woman,” Sebastián Lelio, director
- Germany, “In the Fade,” Fatih Akin, director
- Hungary, “On Body and Soul,” Ildikó Enyedi, director
- Israel, “Foxtrot,” Samuel Maoz, director
- Lebanon, “The Insult,” Ziad Doueiri, director
- Russia, “Loveless,” Andrey Zvyagintsev, director
- Senegal, “Félicité,” Alain Gomis, director
- South Africa, “The Wound,” John Trengove, director
- Sweden, “The Square,” Ruben Östlund, director
As a transgender woman, let alone one of the rare transgender film critics, it is so exciting to see A Fantastic Woman make the shortlist for the Oscars. Transgender representation in the media is an area that’s been sorely lacking and needs to improve. It’s telling when there were only 11 transgender characters on television last year and Amazon’s Transparent accounted for the large majority.
I hope we reach the day where the studios will have transgender characters–played by transgender actors–in leading roles or even major supporting roles. Representation is very important and they are doing the LGBTQ community a big disservice but now allowing us to be represented more. If we had the representation years ago, I wouldn’t have been in the closet for so damn long.
Films were screened for the Phase I committee between mid-October and December 11. The top six choices were joined by three films selected by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee.
Eligible Academy members will now be able to screen the nine shortlisted films over a three day period, taking place in theaters over January 12-14, 2018. Those members will see three films a day in New York, London, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Those international members will have the chance to stream the films but all nine are required to be seen before submitting ballots.
The nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.
The 90th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be airing live on the ABC Television Network, starting with the red carpet at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
