Turkey’s Film Critics Association names ‘Painted Bird’ the best foreign film of 2020

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The Film Critics Association of Turkey (SİYAD) has selected the best 20 foreign films of 2020. Accordingly, "The Painted Bird" of Václav Marhoul has been named the "Best Foreign Film of 2020." Directed by Marhoul, the film was adapted from the novel of Jerzy Kosiński of the same title.

While the films have been selected by the SİYAD members among the foreign films that came to the big screen in Turkey last year, the prize will be granted to the importer of "The Painted Bird" in the 53rd SİYAD Award Granting Ceremony planned to be held in March 2021.

The top 20 foreign films of 2020 according to SİYAD members:

1) The Painted Bird - Václav Marhoul
2) Les misérables - Ladj Ly
3) Honeyland - Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov
4) About Endlessness - Roy Andersson
5) Bacurau - Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles
6) It Must Be Heaven - Elia Suleiman
7) An Officer and A Spy - Roman Polanski
8) Our Mothers (Nuestras Madres) - César Díaz
9) Jojo Rabbit - Taika Waititi
10) I Lost My Body (J'ai perdu mon corps) - Jérémy Clapin
11) Dark Waters - Todd Haynes
12) The Farewell - Lulu Wang
13) Little Women - Greta Gerwig
14) Knives Out - Rian Johnson
15) True History of the Kelly Gang - Justin Kurzel
16) The Foreigner - Ben Allen
17) Waiting for the Barbarians - Ciro Guerra
18) The Gentlemen - Guy Ritchie
19) La Belle Époque - Nicolas Bedos
20) The Invisible Man - Leigh Whannell

Briefly about "The Painted Bird"

The Painted Bird (Czech: Nabarvené ptáče) is a black-and-white war drama film written, directed and produced by Václav Marhoul. It is an adaptation of Jerzy Kosiński's novel of the same name.

The Painted Bird was selected to play in competition at the 76th Venice International Film Festival and was chosen for the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival as part of Special Presentations. The film was also screened in the Dare strand at the 63rd BFI London Film Festival. It was selected as the Czech entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards making the December shortlist. (AÖ/SD)