At this year's 50th FEST, which takes place from February 25 to March 6, the audience will have the opportunity to see four films nominated for the prestigious Oscar in various categories. The film ‘Belfast’, written and directed by Kenneth Branagh, was nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Ciarán Hinds) and Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Judi Dench). The film ‘Licorice Pizza’ directed by Paul Thomas Anderson was nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Achievement in Directing and Best Original Screenplay. In ‘The Lost Daughter’ directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Olivia Coleman was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role and Jessie Buckley for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role. Penelope Cruz was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in Pedro Almodóvar’s ‘Parallel Mothers’.
‘Cyrano’, the latest film adaptation of Edmond Rostand's play ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’, directed by Joe Wright, received a nomination for Best Achievement in Costume Design.
Set during the tumult of late-1960s Northern Ireland, ‘Belfast’ is a coming-of-age drama film which follows a nine-year-old Buddy as he navigates a landscape of working-class struggle, violence and cultural changes. He dreams of a glamorous future that will whisk him far from the Troubles, but, in the meantime, he finds consolation in his charismatic family: Pa, Ma, Granny and Pop.
‘Licorice Pizza’ is the story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine and the discovery of first love in the San Fernando Valley in 1973. Alana and Gary meet for the first time on the picture day at his high school. She is a young woman who wants to find herself outside of her job as an assistant photographer. He has already established himself as an actor and will soon tell that to Alana in an attempt to impress her. She is fascinated by his exceptional self-confidence and they establish an honest but awkward relationship.
The heroine of the film ‘The Lost Daughter’ is Leda, who, alone on a seaside holiday, becomes consumed with a young mother and daughter as she watches them on the beach. Unnerved by their compelling relationship, Leda is overwhelmed by her own memories of the terror, confusion and intensity of early motherhood. An impulsive act shocks Leda into the strange and sinister world of her own mind, where she is forced to face the unconventional choices she made as a young mother and their consequences.
‘Parallel Mothers’ (Madres paralelas) is a story about two pregnant women meeting in a maternity hospital. They are both unmarried and became pregnant by accident. Janis, middle-aged, is thrilled by her pregnancy, while Ana, an adolescent, is scared, repentant and traumatized. The few words they exchange as they walk through the corridors of the maternity hospital, waiting to give birth, create a close bond between them, which by chance develops, and changes their lives in a decisive way.
