Denmark, Switzerland and Brazil Also Announce Oscar Entries

Denmark, Switzerland and Brazil have also announced the films that will represent them at the Oscars. Denmark has selected Nikolaj Arcel's A Royal Affair. Switzerland will be represented by Ursula Meier's Sister, while Brazil will try to win an Academy Award with Selton Mello's The Clown.

Note: Nikolaj Arcel's A Royal Affair, which won Silver Bear for Best Actor (Mads Mikkelsen) and Best Screenplay (Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg) Awards at the Berlin International Film Fesitval earlier this year, is set to be released on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on October 29th. (See our listing here).

Sister

Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein) lives with his older sister (Léa Seydoux) in a housing complex below a luxury Swiss ski resort. With his sister drifting in and out of jobs and relationships, twelve-year-old Simon takes on the responsibility of providing for the two of them. Every day, he takes the lift up to the opulent ski world above, stealing equipment from rich tourists to resell to the local kids down in the valley. He is able to keep their little family afloat with his small-time hustles and his sister is thankful for the money he brings in. But, when Simon partners with a crooked British seasonal worker, he begins to lose his boundaries, affecting his relationship with his sister and plummeting him into dangerous territory.



The Clown

The Clown is s the second feature film by director Selton Mello, who also stars as the main protagonist. The film follows the story of the father and son Benjamin and Valdemar, who work as clowns Pangaré and Puro Sangue, running the country roads together with the Circus Hope troupe. The clown Benjamin, however, is in crisis. He is convinced that he is no longer funny.



A Royal Affair

Denmark, 1766, and Caroline Mathilde is married to the mad and politically ineffectual King Christian VII. Ignored by the wild King who chooses to live scandalously, Caroline grows accustomed to a quiet existence in oppressed Copenhagen. When the King returns from a tour of Europe accompanied by Struensee, his new personal physician, Queen Caroline finds an unexpected ally within the kingdom. The attraction between the two is initially one of shared ideals and philosophy, but it soon turns into a passionate and clandestine affair. Committed to the ideals of the Enlightenment that are banned in Denmark, Struensee convinces the King to assert his previously untapped power to remove the conservative political council and implement drastic changes to Danish society. As the Court plot their return to power and the downfall of the Queen and Struensee, the consequences of their affair are made clear and the entire nation will be changed forever.