Norway Selects Out Stealing Horses For Oscars

The Norwegian Oscar Committee has announced that Hans Petter Moland’s adaptation of Out Stealing Horses (Ut og stjæle hester), starring Stellan Skarsgård, will be its submission for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.

67 year old widower Trond (Stellan Skarsgård) has moved to a small rural community with his dog after losing his second wife. Here he plans to celebrate the millennium alone but discovers that he has a neighbour who knew him back in the summer of 1948.

That year Trond was 15 years old, and that was the summer when his father disappeared from his life for good. That same summer was the first time he felt close to a woman… the same woman who disappeared with his father.

The jury said in their deliberation: “Hans Petter Moland impresses in his ambitious and fearless use of cinematic language, and in this way creates a rare emotional depth in his telling of a unique story, elevating the film’s themes and seamlessly shifting between time periods.”

“Based on the novel by Per Petterson, the cinematography, sound and editing capture the poetry of the novel in such a way that it hits the viewer with a physical force that remains even after the film has ended.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the final five nominations for Best International Feature Film on 13th January, with the Oscar to be presented during a gala ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on 9th February 2020.

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