MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Russian film director Andrey Zvyagintsev, whose movie ‘Leviathan’ has been nominated for an Academy Award as the best foreign-language film, will await ‘a response from destiny’ at the awarding ceremony, due to be held in Los Angeles on February 22.
He said it on Thursday in an interview with TASS.
“What sort of a reaction could I have except joy and special excitement from the event,” he said somewhat rhetorically. “February 22 will mark the last step on our way to an Oscar, and that’s why the last step is still ahead. On that day, we’ll be seated in the hall and awaiting a response from destiny.”
Awaiting the nomination was the most complex stage of all, as the Academy was to select only five pictures out of nine.
“All the films (competing with Leviathan) produce a strong impression and I know this from media reports,” Zvyagintsev said. “I’ve seen only Ida and The Tangerines so far but I was told the other two films are quite good, too.”
The nominees for the 87th Academy Award in the best foreign language film nomination were revealed at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Thursday. Leviathan’s competitors are ‘Wild Tales’ by Damian Scifron of Argentina, ‘Tangerines’ by Zaza Urushadze of Estonia, ‘Timbuktu’ by Abderrahmane Sissako of Mauritania, and Ida of Pawel Pawlikowskiu of Poland.
‘Leviathan’ is an offbeat interpretation of the Biblical story of Job placed into the context of the Russia of nowadays and simultaneously an allusion to the work by Thomas Hobbs.
The protagonist of the story, Nikolay (played by Alexey Serebryakov) and his wife Lilia (Yelena Lyadova) live in a small northern town where he has a car repair shop. When the town’s mayor tries to pull down his house and to confiscate property, Nikolay turns for assistance to his longtime friend Dmitry Seleznyov (Vladimir Vdovichenkov), who is a lawyer and who bumps into the freewheeling actions of officials and representatives of the Orthodox Church when he comes to his friend’s rescue.
World premiere of the film took place at Cannes where it received a prize for the best story. On January 11, ‘Leviathan’ received a Golden Globe as the best foreign language film.
It is believed that the Golden Globes influence the results of Academy selection.