91Èȱ¬

91Èȱ¬ Four today confirmed Jonathan Ross is to present the 91Èȱ¬ Four World Cinema Awards 2010. The channel also unveiled the shortlist of nominations for the awards, which are the foremost foreign-language honours in the UK.

Now in its seventh year, the annual 91Èȱ¬ Four World Cinema Awards celebrate the best of contemporary international film-making and highlight 91Èȱ¬ Four's commitment to international cinema. The shortlist for the awards is voted for by UK-wide film writers while The 91Èȱ¬ Four World Cinema Achievement Award celebrates the outstanding work of an international film maker.

Richard Klein, Controller, 91Èȱ¬ Four, commented: "As the home of arts and culture, 91Èȱ¬ Four is committed to World Cinema. It's really important to encourage the viewing of such important stories from the world around us – this year's shortlist is further proof of an exceptional year for international film."

This year, some 200 UK-wide film writers were invited to select shortlisted films from around 280 recent releases. The five films which polled highest were then shortlisted for the 91Èȱ¬ Four World Cinema Award 2010. A specially assembled jury will debate the films and select an overall winner.

The director of the winning film will receive the Award at a special television ceremony at the BFI Southbank in London on Thursday 7 October 2010 and shown in a special programme on 91Èȱ¬ Four on Saturday 9 October 2010. The 91Èȱ¬ Four World Cinema Awards is a 91Èȱ¬ Scotland Arts production for 91Èȱ¬ Vision.

91Èȱ¬ Four World Cinema Award shortlist:

Let The Right One In (director: Tomas Alfredson)
Twelve year-old Oskar is a shy boy, regularly bullied by his classmates. When Eli moves in next door, she and Oskar become friends, but this nocturnal neighbour is not what she seems. As their relationship develops, Oskar and Eli are drawn into a strange and seemingly impossible relationship.

This brilliant film is a vampire thriller, a revenge fantasy and a tender love story.

I Am Love (director: Luca Guadagnino)
Tilda Swinton is brilliant as the matriarch of a well-to-do Milanese family in this film about wealth, ritual and style. With a strange poise and grace she appears somehow removed from events. When the opportunity to indulge her own senses and emotions appears, the veneers of class, duty and loyalty slowly peel away.

A sumptuous melodrama topped with a resplendent soundtrack by John Adams.

A Prophet (director: Jacques Audiard)
This red-blooded prison drama charts the rise of a young French-Muslim inmate through a prison's inner-criminal ranks. Falling in with the ruling Corsican gang, Malik must navigate the violence and ethnic mistrust of prison life. An essay in hard realism.

A Prophet offers a steely take on racial tensions in France by a master of the contemporary French thriller genre.

The White Ribbon (director: Michael Haneke)
Superbly shot in black and white, Haneke's dazzlingly intelligent film is a revealing, resonant study of a seemingly prosperous village in Germany just before the First World War.

Malicious incidents – some small, some not small – are happening around the village and, while no perpetrator is identified, the very structure of this small community seems to be under threat.

Waltz With Bashir (director: Ari Folman)

From contemporary interviews with fellow veterans, director Ali Folman seeks to retrieve and make sense of his own memories of the 1982 Lebanon War. Almost entirely through animation, a vivid and subjective picture of conflict emerges.

This extraordinary and powerful film has caused great debate about the horrors of war, individuals' roles in it and about the blurred lines between memory, documentary and fiction.

Allan Campbell is the producer of the 91Èȱ¬ Four World Cinema Awards, a 91Èȱ¬ Scotland Arts production for 91Èȱ¬ Vision. The executive producer is Andrea Miller.

Notes to Editors

The 91Èȱ¬ Four World Cinema Award shortlist will be judged by a panel with an expert knowledge of international cinema past and present (former jurors have included Gillian Anderson, Kevin MacDonald, Bjork and Peter Capaldi). More details on the judging panel will be announced shortly.

Last year's award winner: 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days (4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile). Director: Cristian Mungiu. A compelling drama set against the backdrop of a Communist Romania.

Other nominated films: Gomorrah (Director: Matteo Garrone); Persepolis (Director: Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi); The Diving Bell And The Butterfly (Director: Julian Schnabel); The Orphanage (Director: Juan Antonio Bayona).

In 2009, a new award was introduced – The 91Èȱ¬ Four World Cinema Achievement Award. The inaugural winner was director Werner Herzog, Aguirre Wrath Of God, Fitzcarraldo, The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser and Nosferatu The Vampyre.

91Èȱ¬ Four has put international cinema at the heart of its schedule since its launch in March 2002 and now concentrates on airing seasons of film premieres and classic foreign language films.

In March 2010, the 91Èȱ¬ outlined its Strategy Review which placed quality at the forefront of the corporation. One of the five key editorial priorities outlined in this review is "Inspiring knowledge, music and culture – enriching people's lives bringing knowledge, music and culture to new minds, eyes and ears."

Defining cultural output on the 91Èȱ¬ will result in a stronger, combined contribution to arts, music, culture and knowledge.

EB/AH