“Footnote”, a film by Joseph Cedar, has been announced as a nominee in the Best Foreign Film category at this year’s Academy Awards to be held on February 26 in Los Angeles. “Footnote” will compete against “Frida” (Iran), “Dark” (Poland), “Mr. Lazar” (Canada) and “bolhad “(Belgium). “Footnote”, which stars Shlomo Bar-Aba and Lior Ashkenazi, is about the rivalry between a father and son who are Talmud scholars in Jerusalem. For Joseph Cedar this is the second nomination in three years. His previous film, “Beaufort” was nominated in 2007.

When Cedar was asked about the importance of the award and nomination, he answered:

“to be honest, the movie, “footnote”, is dealing with these exact issues- what happens when we let some kind of big prize or achievement take over our lives and control of our judgment. These are things that “footnote” touches. My feelings right now, are just like in the film, there is great excitement and a sense of pride on the one hand, and on the other hand there is concern that there could be some mistake.”

For the first time, Israel is facing Iran, one of her great enemies. This is the second time that Iran is nominated for an Oscar. The previous time was in 1998 with “Children of Paradise”, they didn’t win the Oscar. So “Frida” can be a huge achievement for Tehran. Cedar referred to this fact by saying that “the Iranian director and I have many things in common”.

May the best movie win!