Hollywood, CA, December 11, 2002 – Paramount Classics was officially notified today by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences that the highly praised film Bloody Sunday is ineligible for consideration for the Academy Awards due to a single airing on public television.
Bloody Sunday is award-winning director Paul Greengrass's passionate cinematic re-creation of the events of January 30th, 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland, when a confrontation between civil rights marchers and the British Army spiraled into a massacre.
Co-Presidents Ruth Vitale and David Dinerstein remarked, " We are extremely disappointed by the Academy's decision. We have received overwhelming praise from other academy members, filmmakers, distributors and human rights organizations not only for the film itself, but also for our defense of the film's potential to be considered for the highest honor of all. Despite this unfortunate news, we fully expect to be a part of every top ten list this year and will continue to take great pride in the other exceptional awards bestowed upon Paul Greengrass, Mark Redhead, James Nesbitt and the other producers, cast and crew."
Producer Mark Redhead added, "We don't make films for awards and we certainly don't regret our decision to go for a bold and unusual release strategy for the film, in view of the special historic circumstances of the 30th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday. However, we are disappointed that has resulted in Bloody Sunday being penalized for not fitting neatly into a narrow category."
This is the third time in eight days in which a film's eligibility has been denied where difficult politics have come into play. Just recently, the United Kingdom's Hindi-language entry The Warrior was rejected because it was not based on an ethnic community within the United Kingdom. In addition, the film was not in an indigenous language. The drama Divine Intervention was deemed ineligible because the Academy does not recognize Palestine as a "boundaried country."
Bloody Sunday, as that day has come to be known, was the trigger point for a thirty-year cycle of violence that has since claimed many thousands of lives.
The film's contribution to the peace process has since been widely and publicly praised in unprecedented terms by political leaders from all sides of the conflict, including Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, British Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlan, Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume, Bishop Edward Daley and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.
In the call to Co-Presidents Ruth Vitale and David Dinerstein, AMPAS stated that they stand by Rule 3 of their eligibility requirements, which states that a picture "first exhibited outside the U.S....shall be eligible for submission provided the prior exhibition takes place in a commercial motion picture theater after January 1,2002, with the following further conditions:
a) the film may not be exhibited publicly in any other medium for a six month period following the commencement of its initial theatrical engagement, and
b) after the six month period the film may play in non-theatrical forms provided they are outside the U.S. (No film which is shown inside the U.S. in any non-theatrical form prior to its qualifying Los Angeles run shall be eligible for Academy Awards.)"
Despite similar, but unsuccessful petitions in the past (Croupier and The Last Seduction), Paramount Classics had felt confident in pursuing their appeal. They approached AMPAS on the grounds that Bloody Sunday's unique and important release strategy was critical to ensuring the picture had the strongest and most beneficial emotional, political, and social impact -- at a critical time in the Northern Ireland peace process.
Bloody Sunday had its first public showing in a commercial London theater on January 20, 2002 – a Sunday ten days before the 30-year anniversary of the march the film so passionately re-creates. Later that evening, the picture was presented throughout Britain and Ireland on national television – the only broadcast airing of the film to date. The film added additional theater dates on January 25th,and played for twelve weeks in cinemas throughout the United Kingdom.
Paramount Classics secondarily based their argument on Sir Laurence Olivier's 1957 Best Actor nomination for the British film Richard III. Over a year before, on March 11, 1956, in what was considered a history-making television premiere, the film of Richard III aired on NBC simultaneously with its theatrical release. The network airing was a national event -- a milestone in the establishment of color television. Paramount Classics argued that in both cases the synergy of cinema and television was something to be celebrated, not penalized. The argument continued: win or lose, Olivier (he lost) had at least been given the opportunity to compete.
Bloody Sunday, which was just honored with IFP's Independent
Spirit Award nomination for Best Foreign Film and the National Board of Review's Special Recognition of Films that Reflect the Freedom of Expression, is one of the best reviewed films released this year. It shared the top award for Best Picture at this year's Berlin Film Festival; was an official selection of the New York Film Festival and was co-winner of the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. The film continues to win major film festival awards
throughout the world, including Best Picture at both the Dinard Film Festival and the Jerusalem Film Festival, as well as Audience Awards at the Sydney and Rio Film Festivals. It garnered two of the top prizes at the British Independent Film Awards and was nominated for the European Film Awards, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematographer. Bloody Sunday has received eight nominations for the Irish Film and Television Awards.
Bloody Sunday has grossed over $700,000 to date and has been sold for theatrical distribution in nearly every international market, and has already had successful commercial theatrical runs in Italy and France.
From Paramount Classics
|