A Glasgow-born director could be in line for his second Academy Awards success with his new movie receiving plenty of 'Oscar buzz' ahead of the nominations being announced next month.
Kevin Macdonald's drama The Mauritanian - starring Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster and Benedict Cumberbatch - tells the true story of Mohamedou Ould Salahi, who was held for 14 years from 2002 to 2016 without charge in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Tahar Rahim, who plays Salahi, is already nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Actor - Drama category, while Jodie Foster is nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for the 78th edition of the awards show, which take place tomorrow night.
Literary magazine Brittlepaper says that "Oscar buzz" surrounds the flick, while Indiewire has said the movie is "late to the Oscar race", with a number of movie websites suggesting it could be late 'surprise' inclusion into the Best Picture category field.
Tahar Rahim's performance is also being touted for a nomination for the Best Actor category for the 93rd annual Oscars ceremony, which takes place on April 25, as is Jodie Foster's performance as defense attorney Nancy Hollander.
Macdonald’s directorial credits include 2000's One Day in September (which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature), 2003's Touching the Void and 2006’s The Last King of Scotland, for which Forest Whitaker won a Best Actor Oscar.
The 53-year-old is the grandson of Hungarian-born filmmaker Emeric Pressburger, and began his career in the movie industry by directing a screen adaptation of his grandfather's written biography for TV in 1995 with The Making of an Englishman.
The Mauritanian airs as part of the Glasgow Film Festival until tomorrow and the film can be pre-ordered on https://glasgowfilm.org/
Its full UK release will be on April 1 on Amazon Prime Video.
