''A Place in the World'' ( es, Un lugar en el mundo, links=no) is a 1992 drama film co-written, co-produced and directed by

Adolfo Aristarain Adolfo Aristarain (born October 19, 1943) is an Argentina, Argentine film director and screenwriter who is famous for his filmic sophistication and subtle examination of issues of political oppression. ''Variety (magazine), Variety'' has deemed ...

, and starring Federico Luppi. It stars

José Sacristán José María Sacristán Turiégano (born 27 September 1937), better known as José Sacristán, is a Spanish film, theatre, and television actor. At Gijón International Film Festival in 2015, he received the Nacho Martinez Award. At the 60 ...

, Federico Luppi, Leonor Benedetto and Cecilia Roth. The movie won numerous awards and was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film; however, it was declared ineligible and removed from the final ballot because it had been submitted by Uruguay, which had exercised insufficient artistic control over the film. It is the only film so far to have been disqualified from this category after it secured a nomination. In a survey of the 100 greatest films of Argentine cinema carried out by the

Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken Museo del Cine Pablo Ducrós Hicken is a museum of cinema of Argentina located in Buenos Aires. It was established on 1971 and holds a collection of 65,000 reels of film. History The Cinema Museum of the City of Buenos Aires was created on Oc ...

in 2000, the film reached the 14th position. In a new version of the survey organized in 2022 by the specialized magazines ''La vida útil'', ''Taipei'' and ''La tierra quema'', presented at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the film reached the 34th position.

Synopsis

The story is set during the return of democracy to Argentina, in 1983. While they live their lives, a group of characters argue about the country's most controversial subjects at the time: religion, politics, and human rights.

Cast

as Hans * Federico Luppi as Mario * Leonor Benedetto as Nelda * Cecilia Roth as Ana *

Rodolfo Ranni Rodolfo Ranni (born 31 October 1937 in Trieste, Italy) is an Italian Argentine film actor.Rodolfo Ranni
at the

Hugo Arana Hugo Arana (23 July 1943 – 11 October 2020) was an Argentine film, television, and theatre actor. Life Arana was born on 23 July 1943. He grew up in Monte Grande where his parents were farmers and moved with his family to Lomas de Zamora and t ...

as Zamora * Gastón Batyi as Ernesto * Lorena del Río as Luciana * Mario Alarcón as Juan

Critical reception

Critic Mick LaSalle, film critic for the '' San Francisco Chronicle,'' liked the film and wrote, "''A Place in the World'' is a sensitive, beautifully made coming-of-age story, set against a backdrop of Argentine politics played out on a local scale. Featuring a cast of strong characters, all driven by their deepest beliefs and passions, this is that rare case of a film that's not just lovely -- it's lively, too." Film critic James Berardinelli wrote, "The acting is uniformly strong, with all the principal and secondary performers delivering believable portrayals. Celia (sic: Cecilia) Roth is especially worthy of mention for the emotion she projects through her eyes. She and Federico Luppi are perfectly matched. ''A Place in the World'' offers a frank, somewhat unusual view of the relationships that form families and communities. Although the film has a lot more meat to chew on than that, the issues presented by ''A Place in the World'' would not generate the same degree of interest without the characters who argue about and live them. It's hard to deny the effectiveness of this marriage between personalities and ideology where neither eclipses the other."

Oscar controversy

''A Place in the World'', which was registered for the Golden Globes as an entry from Argentina alone, was originally submitted in the fall of 1992 to Argentina's Oscar selection committee as a possible contender. However, the committee chose (by one vote) to submit ''

The Dark Side of the Heart ''The Dark Side of the Heart'' ( es, El lado oscuro del corazón) is a 1992 Argentine surrealist romantic drama film written and directed by Eliseo Subiela. The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 6 ...

'' instead. ''A Place in the World's'' director

then asked Antonio Mercader, Uruguay's Minister of Education and Culture, to submit the film as a Uruguayan entry. After the minister refused, Aristarain took the matter to Manuel Martinez Carril, director of the Cinematheque of Uruguay, who agreed to sponsor the film for submission to the Academy's foreign-language film committee. When the nominations were announced by the Academy on February 17, 1993, ''A Place in the World'' was initially included among the five nominees, and was presented as a Uruguayan submission. However, a week later, the Academy launched an investigation after it was revealed that the film was almost entirely Argentine with minimal input from Uruguayan artists. It was disqualified three days later, with the Academy saying it was essentially an Argentine production and that this violated the Academy's rules which require that there be "substantial filmmaking input from the country that submits the film". There have only been a small number of times in the Academy's history that a film was disqualified after being nominated. One previous case was that of the documentary ''

Young Americans ''Young Americans'' is the ninth studio album by English musician David Bowie, released on 7March 1975 through RCA Records. The album marked a departure from the glam rock style of Bowie's previous albums, showcasing his interest in soul and ...

'' (1967), which had won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature but was later ruled ineligible after it was revealed that it had opened theatrically prior to the Academy's eligibility period. The disqualification of ''A Place in the World'' was all the more unusual as the Academy decided not to replace it with another film, leaving only four films in competition. Aristarain, who argued that the film was an international co-production between Uruguay and Argentina, contested the Academy's decision, and filed suit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on March 4. Aristarain cited the precedents set by ''

Black and White in Color ''Black and White in Color'' (french: La Victoire en chantant, then ''Noirs et Blancs en couleur'' for the 1977 re-issue) is a French-Ivorian 1976 war film and black comedy directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud in his directorial debut. The film is set ...

'' (1976), '' Le Bal'' (1983) and ''

Dangerous Moves ''Dangerous Moves'' (french: La Diagonale du fou) is a 1984 French-language film about chess, directed by Richard Dembo, produced by Arthur Cohn, starring Michel Piccoli, Alexandre Arbatt, as well as Liv Ullmann, Leslie Caron, and Bernhard W ...

'' (1984), all of which were French productions but which were submitted, respectively, by

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, Algeria and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. After the judge determined that, while in the past Academy procedures may have been lax, the organization had essentially followed its rules, Aristarain decided not to take the case to appeal, as ballots were already being mailed to voters and the awards ceremony was about to take place. Because of the controversy surrounding ''A Place in the Worlds disqualification, the Academy adopted in the summer of 1993 new guidelines aimed at clarifying its eligibility rules for the Foreign Language Film category, and especially at making more specific the role played by each crew member. It is also worth mentioning that in its November 2001 press release listing the foreign language submissions to the 74th Academy Awards, the Academy announced that a film from Uruguay (''

In This Tricky Life ''In This Tricky Life'' ( es, En la puta vida, links=no) is a 2001 film directed by Beatriz Flores Silva. It was Uruguay's submission to the 74th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nom ...

'') had "qualified this year for the first time", thereby omitting any mention of ''A Place in the World''.

Awards

Wins * San Sebastian Film Festival: Golden Seashell, Adolfo Aristarain; OCIC Award, Adolfo Aristarain; 1992. *

Nantes Three Continents Festival The Festival des 3 Continents is an annual film festival held since 1979 in Nantes, France, and is devoted to the cinemas of Asia, and Africa and Latin America. It was founded by Philippe and Alain Jalladeau.Goya Awards: Best Foreign Film in Spanish Language; 1993. *

Argentine Film Critics Association Awards The Argentine Film Critics Association ( es, Asociación de Cronistas Cinematográficos de la Argentina) is an organization of Argentine-based journalists and correspondents. The association presents the ''Silver Condor Awards'' (''Premios Cóndor ...

: Silver Condor, Best Actor, Federico Luppi; Best Actress, Cecilia Roth; Best Director, Adolfo Aristarain; Best Film; Best Music, Emilio Kauderer; Best New Actor, Gaston Batyi; Best Original Screenplay, Adolfo Aristarain, Alberto Lecchi, and Kathy Saavedra; Best Supporting Actor, José Sacristán; 1993. * Fribourg International Film Festival: Audience Award, Adolfo Aristarain; 1993. * Gramado Film Festival: Golden Kikito, Best Latin Film, Adolfo Aristarain; 1993. *

Ondas Awards The Premios Ondas (Spanish: literally "wave awards", also known in English as the Ondas Awards or simply The Ondas) have been given since 1954 by Radio Barcelona, a subsidiary of Cadena SER, in recognition of professionals in the fields of radio ...

: Film Award, Best Director, Adolfo Aristarain; 1993.

References

External links

* *
''Un lugar en el mundo''
at the cinenacional.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Place In The World, A 1992 films 1992 drama films Argentine independent films 1990s Spanish-language films Spanish independent films Uruguayan independent films 1992 independent films Argentine coming-of-age films Spanish coming-of-age films Uruguayan coming-of-age films 1990s Argentine films 1990s Spanish films