Award-winning director Emir Baigazin’s “Life” has been submitted for an Oscar nomination in the category of Best Foreign Language Film, QazMonitor reports.
All submissions for the Oscars must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022, and November 30, 2022. The list of nominees for the American Academy Award will be announced on January 24, 2023, while the ceremony itself will take place on March 12, 2023.
Baigazin’s latest work is currently being premiered worldwide at the ongoing Toronto Film Festival in the Contemporary World Cinema Section. The production of the film was assisted by the State Center for Support of National Cinema at the request of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Kazakhstan.
"Life" was shot in a span of three years in Almaty, the Turkistan region, Aktau, and Thailand. The story revolves around Arman who finds himself tangled up in a string of events and people that shape his understanding of what life means.
An Oscar entry would be a first for the director who has already gained accolades at various world film festivals. Baigazin saw his breakthrough in 2013 with "Harmony Lessons", which won more than 25 awards in total, including the “Silver Bear” at Berlin Film Festival.
The film went on to have two more sequels, with the last of the trilogy, “The River” (2018), winning him the Best Director award in the New Horizons program at the 75th Venice Film Festival.