BLOODY SUNDAY Oscar eligibility questioned

By Mike Whybark     November 15, 2002
Source: Variety

Variety reports that the acclaimed docudrama BLOODY SUNDAY is in jeopardy as an Oscar contender due to a television broadcast last January 20th in the U. K.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences employs a number of rules to determine a film's eligibility or ineligibility for the Academy Awards; among them is "Rule 3", adopted in 1956. The rule states that a film can't be aired on TV within six months of the film's first theatrical appearance.

BLOODY SUNDAY depicts the tragic outcome of a protest march in Northern Ireland in the early 1970's and is based on real events.

The film's American distributor, Paramount Classics, is appealing for exemption from the rule, claiming that the film's airing was a public service in the interests of the Northern Irish peace process and invoking the 1956 example of Laurence Olivier's best actor nomination for RICHARD III, which saw TV airings coincident with theatrical release.

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