Sawt Falasteen - Academy to host first overseas ceremony to honor young filmmakers

The gala on October 14 in the British capital's Leicester Square will be an international first for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose membership has grown sharply more global in recent years.

Winners, pre-announced this week, will include "Au Revoir Mon Monde," a French animation about a man trapped in a giant fish costume attempting to race across a city as the world ends in a mysterious meteor shower.

Others include an experimental movie about teenage sexual awakening from Taiwan, a short film set during China's 1910 plague outbreak, and a documentary from a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh.

Gold, silver and bronze placements for the winners will be announced at the ceremony, with all winning films eligible to compete at the main Oscars next March.

While the 51st Student Academy Awards will be the first full, live award show taking place overseas, segments of Oscars telecasts have previously been presented from overseas.

Diana Ross performed a song from Amsterdam in 1976, Michael Caine introduced the 1991 Oscars from a historic Paris cafe, and the following year's ceremony even featured a live presentation honoring "Star Wars" creator George Lucas from aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

One-fifth of Academy members are now from outside the US, and more than half of the new members invited to join this year were also from overseas, including "Anatomy of a Fall" director Justine Triet and the film's star Sandra Hueller.

Past winners at the Academy's student awards include a young Spike Lee, "Back To The Future" filmmaker Robert Zemeckis and 007 director Cary Fukunaga.

The invite-only Academy -- whose members have achieved excellence in their respective fields, from acting and directing to costume design and makeup -- votes for each year's Oscar prizewinners.

H.Darwish--SF-PST