A scene from In Darkness by Agnieszka Holland, 2011, photo by Zebra Film Studio

War films scoop up the nominations for Polish films this Oscar season. Agnieszka Holland's In Darkness is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Janusz Kamiński also received a nomination for cinematography on Steven Spielberg's War Horse

The American Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences has selected Agnieszka Holland's World War II drama In Darkness among the five candidates on the shortlist for best foreign-language film at the 2012. The film is up against Michael R. Roskam's Bullhead (Belgium), Philippe Falardeau's Monsieur Lazhar (Canada), Asghar Farhadi's A Separation (Iran) and Joseph Cedar's Footnote (Israel).

Janusz Kamiński, who recently took home the Critics Choice Award for Cinematography for War Horse, directed by Steven Spieldberg, received the Oscar nomination in the same category. Janusz Kamiński's already won two Oscars for his cinematography for Steven Spielberg films, for Schindler's List in 1994 and for Saving Private Ryan in 1999. He was also nominated for Spielberg's Amistad in 1998 and ten years later for the film The Diving bell and the Butterfly directed by Julian Schnabel. In 2002, Kamiński received the award for outstanding achievement in cinematography at the Hollywood Film Festival. War Horse follows the trials and tribulations of a young Brit and his beloved horse in the midst of World War I. The film has also received nominations for Best Art Direction, Music (Original Score), Sound Editing and Best Picture.

In Darkness is a German-Polish-Canadian co-production is based on the true story In the Sewers of Lvov by Robert Marshall. It tells the story of a smalltime Polish crook, Leopold Socha who becomes a hero saving Jews from the Holocaust. He risks his own life and those of his loved ones to keep safe by hiding a dozen men, women and children in the city's sewers, for nearly 14 months, during the Nazi occupation. The movie stars Robert Wieckiewicz, Agnieszka Grochowska, Kinga Preis, Julia Kiev and Marcin Bosak alongside German actors including Benno Furmann and Maria Schrader.

Holland has said that this film is about the dark and bright sides of man, showing how easy it is to cross the line from one to the other. It's her third feature dealing with the holocaust, a theme that continues to be a big artistic challenge as there are many questions that still remain unanswered, she told the Pap news agency.

Holland is a two-time Oscar nominee, having received a Best Foreign Language Film nomination in 1986 for Angry Harvest and a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Europa, Europa in 1992.

The remaining nominees for Best Cinematography at the 2012 Oscars include: 

Guillame Schiffman for The Artist

Jeff Cronenweth for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Robert Richardson for Hugo

Emmanuel Lubezki for The Tree of Life.

The remaining nominees for Best Picture are The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball and The Tree of Life.

The Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles on the 26th of February, 2012. For the list of nominees in all categories, see: oscar.go.com

Source: culture.pl, oscar.go.com