Ricardo Darin, por duplicado al Oscar...MADRID — Fernando Trueba's "The Dancer and the Thief" has been chosen as Spain's foreign-language Oscar contender.
"Dancer" beat out Daniel Sanchez-Arevalo's "Gordos" and Isabel Coixet's "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo," which also made a three-pic shortlist announced Sept. 14 by Spain's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Produced by Cristina Huete and sold by 6 Sales, "Dancer" is a classically hewn tale of high-romance between three Chilean outsiders, two ex-cons, one a famed safe-cracker (played by Ricardo Darin), and a mute wannabe ballet dancer.
"Dancer" marks the first fiction feature for seven years from Trueba. It world preemed out-of-competition at the recent San Sebastian Film Festival.
In choosing "Dancer," Spanish Academy members have plumped for the director with the best track record with the American Academy: Trueba won a foreign-language Oscar for "Belle Epoque" in 1993.
