Spanish Nomination for the Oscar

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118024741.html?categoryid=19&cs=1

Spain puts forward 'Rain' for Oscars
Iciar Bollain pic scoops Spanish candidature
By JOHN HOPEWELL, EMILIO MAYORGA

MADRID -- Iciar Bollain's "Tambien la lluvia" (Even the Rain) has been chosen by members of the Spanish Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as Spain's foreign-language Oscar entry.
It is the first time a film from a femme director has been put forward by Spain.
One of a three-film shortlist, "Rain" beat out Daniel Monzon's "Cell 211" and Andrucha Waddington's "Lope."
World preeming to an upbeat reaction at Toronto, "Rain" strikes telling parallels between past and present, chronicling the attempts of a foreign film shoot, led by its producer (Luis Tosar) and director (Gael Garcia Bernal), to shoot a revisionist drama about Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World, just as the Bolivian government attempts to privatize the country's water supply.
"Rain," which Bollain called her most ambitious film to date, is her fifth feature and the first from a screenplay by Ken Loach scribe Paul Laverty, her partner.
It is produced by Spain's Morena and Vaca Films, France's Mandarin Cinema and Mexico's Alebrije Cine y Video.
Vaca and Morena also produced "Cell 211," another Tosar-starrer, a sign of their pre-eminence in Spanish filmmaking.

My Thoughts:
I think that is ironic that the Academy of Spain chose this film as its official nomination to be considered for Foreign film of the year. Although I have not seen the film, and can't critique it, I think that it is ironic that they decided to choose a film that was directed by a female one year after Kathryn Bigelow became the first female to receive the Best Director Award. I am excited that the film was submitted, since Spain is a country dominated by a patriarchal mentality. Although Spain as a country can be very liberal, its history still allows for the Spanish to hold on to a sense of conservatism. It would be amazing for 2011 to be the year when a foreign female director takes the award!