This year's Oscar Awards have, like last year, a South African flavour. While South African actress Charlize Theron is up for an Oscar for her performance in North Country, the movie Tsotsi is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

North Country is based a monumental class-action lawsuit that aimed to reshape gender politics in American industry. In the film Theron, who won an Oscar in 2004 for her performance in the movie Monster, plays a mother of two who works a local iron mine. In a masculine environment, the few female workers intimidation and abuse by their male colleagues.

Theron is nominated for best leading actress, Frances McDormand is in the run for best supporting actress.

The South African film Tsotsi, which won the audience prizes at both the Toronto Film Festival and the Edinburgh Film Festival in Scotland, has been nominated for Best Foreign Film Academy Award.

The acclaimed movie is about a hardcore gangster who, after a carjacking, gets stuck with a baby that was in the car. Tsotsi is one of the movies that give a human face, and shows one the other side of crime. Tsotsi was one of the highlights of last year's Cape Town World Cinema Festival.

The 78th Academy Awards or Oscars will be screened on Sunday 5 March 2006.

Source: CapeTownMagazine.com / Miriam Mannak

Molo says: "The wonderful success of Tsotsi has been recognised with another award, this time for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. Read more about South African achievements in the film industry on CapeTownMagazine.com."

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