‘Joyland’, ‘Nice View’, FFI, NOSC And Other Issues Facing The Oscars' Best International Feature Category

The extraordinary journey of Pakistan’s Oscar submission Joyland last week – going from banned in its home country, to still qualifying for the Oscars via a French release, to having its ban reversed, all within the space of a week – illustrates yet again some of the issues faced by the Academy’s Best International Feature Film category. This edition of Streamlined attempts to unpick some of those issues, especially in the submissions and eligibility process, also looking at what has happened this year in India, Nigeria and China.

Streamlined’s next edition will look at Southeast Asian cinema, for which I’ve banked quite a few interviews, but not had time to write. I’d like to thank the people I’ve spoken to for their patience. In addition to catching up with friends and acquaintances on the road, I’ve also been catching up with quite a few viruses – Norovirus, Rhinovirus, but this time around, not Corona, which is so 2020. As a result, Streamlined’s publishing schedule is seriously ou…