Minister of Culture Dr. Mohammed Daoud Daoud has recently announced the nomination of the film 1982 by Director Walid Ouannes to represent Lebanon in the 2020 Oscar, which is organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the United States.
In this regard, the Minister of Culture has put a special committee tasked to nominate the Lebanese film to the Oscars. The Committee made the recommendation in a report and submitted it to the minister who in return announced the nomination of the film.
@moedalliDirected by filmmaker Walid Mouanness, 1982 stars our famous Nadine Labaki, director of the Oscar-nominated drama Capernaum, playing the role of Yasmine, a schoolteacher in Beirut. The film tells the story of Wissam, an 11-year-old boy, who is trying to tell his classmate Joanna that he loves her but gets caught up in airstrikes that hit Beirut at the start of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
The debut from director Walid Mouaness is set at a private school where Yasmeen character, an anguished school teacher, struggles to keep it together amid the 1982 Siege of Beirut.
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A few weeks ago this drama premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the NETPAC Award for World or International Asian Film Premiere.
1982 will be competing in the “Best International Feature Film” category, which was previously known as “Best Foreign Language Film.” From the nominated longlist, ten finalists will be shortlisted, with the final five nominees to be announced on January 2020. The 92nd Academy Awards are set to take place on Feb. 9, 2020.
The 1982 film is Lebanon’s 16th entry in the best international feature Oscar race. In addition to Capernaum, nominated this year, Ziad Doueiri’s The Insult earned a nomination last year.
Walid Mouanness is a Lebanese director, producer, and writer who has directed several shorts, including “The Rifle, The Jackal, The Wolf, and The Boy,” which was shortlisted for a 2017 Academy Award.
