SKOONHEID LEFT OUT OF OSCAR RACE

Skoonheid, the award-winning gay-themed South African film, has failed to make the cut as a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominee.

Directed by Capetonian Oliver Hermanus, the film was South Africa’s official submission to the Oscars. It competed with films from 63 countries that were submitted to be considered for the honour.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences shortlisted the films down to nine and will again narrow these down to five final nominees that will compete for the Foreign Language Oscar.

In August last year, Skoonheid scooped the Best South African Feature Film award at the 32nd Durban International Film Festival. In May, it became the first Afrikaans film to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival and went on to win the Queer Palm award.

Skoonheid tells the story of Francois (Deon Lotz), a ‘straight’, Afrikaans, middle-aged family man, who find himself increasingly obsessed with a friend’s beautiful 22-year-old son, Christian (Charlie Keegan).