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Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon" to Represent Germany in Oscar Race
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- Leonard Proxauf plays a young boy in a German village whose authority figures torment women, children and workers.
- (© picture-alliance/dpa)
Director Michael Haneke's dark drama about a small village in northern Germany on the eve of World War I, The White Ribbon, will represent Germany in the race for the Oscar, an independent jury announced earlier this summer.
Like Haneke's other films, including Funny Games (1997), The Piano Teacher (2002), and Cache (2005), The White Ribbon is a disturbing exploration of human cruelty. The local pastor, the baron, and a doctor enjoy an arbitrary reign over the women, children and farmers in the village of Eichwald based on religion and social heierarchy. A series of disturbing accidents befall the village and it soon becomes clear that someone is acting out ritual punishments based on the same strict morals and social norms.
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- Munich-born Austrian director Michael Haneke poses for photographers after receiving the Palme d'Or Award for his film "Das Weisse Band" (The White Ribbon) at the 62nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival, on May 24, 2009, in Cannes, France.
- (© dpa - Report)
The film already picked up the coveted Golden Palm at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and it will compete against films from 100 countries for a nomination the Best Foreign Language Film category. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) will announce the five nominees on February 2, 2010. The official OSCAR ceremony will take place on March 7, 2010.
The White Ribbon is Haneke's return to the German language after a string of successful films in French and a 2008 remake of his horror classic Funny Games in English last year. Born in Munich, Haneke was raised in Austria and teaches at the Filmacademy Vienna.
The production by X Filme Creative Pool of Berlin in co-production with Wega Film of Vienna, Les Films du Losange of Paris and Lucky Red of Rome will be released by X Verleih in German cinemas on September 17.
Sony Pictures has secured the rights for the USA and plans to open the film in the US cinemas in February 2010.
