Rakayet’s ‘The Grave’ secures spot on Oscars eligibility list

Bangladeshi filmmaker-actor Gazi Rakayet’s English-language feature film ‘The Grave’ has secured its spot in the list of eligible feature films for consideration at the 94th Oscars.

A total of 276 films are in vying for the best picture race this year as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday revealed the list for consideration for the 94th Academy Awards.

This year, the number of eligible films is lesser by 90 than last year’s 366 and the eligibility period was only 10 months, from March 1 to December 31, 2021.

A total of 26 films have secured eligibility for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category while the number is 138 in the Documentary Feature category. Besides, films submitted from 93 countries have become eligible for consideration in the International Feature Film category.

The list of eligible films includes ‘Being the Ricardos’, ‘Belfast’, ‘Don’t Look Up’, ‘Encanto’, ‘The Harder They Fall’, ‘House of Gucci’, ‘In the Heights’, ‘King Richard’, ‘The Power of the Dog’, ‘Passing’, ‘Spencer’, ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, ‘Shang-Chi’ and ‘The Legend Of The Ten Rings’ and ‘West Side Story’. Among the international titles eligible are ‘Titane’, ‘Drive My Car’ and ‘The Hand of God’.

However, nomination voting for the best picture will begin on January 27 and conclude until February 1. Nominations will be announced on February 8.

Gazi Rakayet’s ‘Gor, The Grave’ is said to be the first Bangladeshi film to compete in the general category at the Academy Awards. “It is a great honour for our team and Bangladesh to compete in the general category of Oscar. I am feeling great that this year two films from Bangladesh are competing in the Oscar,” he earlier told The Business Post.

Bangladesh’s official entry to Oscars race this year under the International Feature Film category, Abdullah Mohammad Saad directorial ‘Rehana Maryam Noor’, could not make it to the shortlist which was announced in December last year.

Director Gazi Rakayet has also written the story, screenplay, and dialogues of ‘The Grave’. He also plays the lead character Shiraj Mia, a gravedigger travelling from village to village gathering news about deaths, in the film. It also stars Mousumi Hamid, Dipanwita, Dilara Zaman, Sushoma Sarkar and Shamima Tusty.

‘The Grave’, a government-funded project with the Bangla title ‘Gor’, was initially released in both English and Bangla in December 2020.

The 94th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on March 27. It will be televised in more than 200 territories worldwide.