| Optimum News |
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH, PERSEPOLIS and SICKO get Oscar© nods
22.01.08
Three Optimum titles have been nominated for Academy Awards© in three different categories: Tommy Lee Jones has been nominated in the Best Actor category for his performance in IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH; PERSEPOLIS has been nominated for Best Animated Feature Film; and, SICKO has made the shortlist for the Best Documentary Feature award.
Tommy Lee Jones plays a grieving father in Paul Haggis’ IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH, released in UK cinemas 25th January 2008. The film tells the story of a war veteran, his wife, and the search for their son, a soldier who recently returned from Iraq but has mysteriously gone missing, and the police detective who helps in the investigation. Inspired by true events, IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH is Paul Haggis' directing follow-up to the Academy Award® winning Crash and co-stars Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon and Josh Brolin. The nomination marks Jones’ third Oscar nod - he won the Academy award for Best Supporting Actor in 1994 for his performance in The Fugitive and was previously nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category in 1992 for his role in JFK. Jones is nominated alongside: George Clooney (Michael Clayton); Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood); Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd); and, Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises).
PERSEPOLIS is the film debut from artist and graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi. Based on Satrapi’s four graphic novels, PERSEPOLIS is an autobiographical tale of a young girl coming-of-age in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and then in exile in Vienna and features the voices of Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve and Danielle Darrieux. Other films nominated for Best Animated Feature are Ratatouille and Surf’s Up. PERSEPOLIS was awarded the Jury prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and will be released in UK cinemas on April 25th 2008.
SICKO was released in the UK last October and is currently available on DVD. Directed by Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11), SICKO is a straight-from-the-heart portrait of the insane, often cruel, and always profit-hungry U.S. health care system. Moore previously won the Best Documentary Feature award in 2002 with BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE and will face competition this year from: No End in Sight; Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience; Taxi to the Dark Side; War/Dance.
The 80th Academy Awards will take place at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday 24th February.
For further information:
Emma Pycroft / Claire Gascoyne
Optimum Releasing
020 7637 5403
emma@optimumreleasing.com / Claire.gascoyne@optimumreleasing.com
