Lav inching closer to Oscars

MANILA, Philippines - Lav Diaz (photo) is inching closer to a historic Oscar nomination after his film Norte was nominated at the influential Independent Spirit Awards which are handed out one day before the Oscars. Norte has been submitted for consideration in next year’s Oscar’s Best Foreign-Language Film category.

At the Spirit Awards, Norte is competing with five other entries for Best International Film: Force Majeure (Sweden) directed by Ruben Ostlund; Leviathan (Russia) by Andrey Zvygintsev; Mommy (Canada) by Xavier Dolan; Under The Skin (UK) by Jonathan Glazer; and Ida by Pawel Pawilkowski. — RAYMOND LO, L.A. Correspondent