Spain chooses film on jobless as Oscars pick

Spain has chosen a movie about shipbuilders left unemployed when their shipyards shut down as its candidate for an Oscar nomination in the “best foreign language film” category, Spain's Cinema Academy said yesterday. Mondays in the Sun, a grim feature film about life in northwestern Spain after the main source of income and pride leaves the town, beat out Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodovar's “Talk to Her” as the selection. Directed by Fernando Leon de Aranoa and starring Oscar-nominated actor Javier Bardem, Mondays in the Sun won the top Concha de Oro prize in the San Sebastian film festival in September. Members of the Spanish Academy vote to nominate one Spanish film, which is then offered to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the United States. The Academy picks a shortlist of five, from which the winner will be announced at the Oscars ceremony on March 23 in Los Angeles.