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It took nearly 20 years from the signing of Italy’s co-production treaty with Australia to yield a feature. But after a lengthy and sometimes fraught process, writer-director Ruth Borgobello’s 2016 drama, The Space Between became the first official film produced between the two nations. Now Borgobello’s semi-autobiographical debut is representing Australia in the Oscar Academy best foreign language-film category.

Filmed in Udine in northern Italy, the gentle love story centers on 35-year-old former chef-turned-factory worker Marco (Flavio Parenti), and Australian traveler Olivia (Maeve Dermody), who meet on the day of a life-changing tragedy for Marco. Set against the...

A record 92 countries have submitted films for consideration in the foreign-language film category for the 90th Academy Awards.

Haiti, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria have all submitted films for the first time.

The 2017 submissions are:

Afghanistan, A Letter to the President, Roya Sadat, director;

Albania, Daybreak, Gentian Koçi, director;

Algeria, Road to Istanbul, Rachid Bouchareb, director;

Argentina, Zama, Lucrecia Martel, director;

Armenia, Yeva, Anahit Abad, director;

Australia, The Space Between, Ruth Borgobello, director;

Austria, Happy End, Michael Haneke,...

The final deadline for submitting each country’s film for consideration for the foreign-language Oscar was October 2. Last year 85 were finally deemed eligible by the Academy; this year the number is a record 92. Haiti, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria are first-time entrants. These films are vying for the initial shortlist of 9, and final five nominations to be announced on January 23. See the final list below.

Read More:Oscar Announces Changes for Foreign-Film Voting: Now Simpler! (Sort Of.)

The frontrunners include Sweden selected Ruben Östlund’s hilarious Palme d’Or-winner “The Square” (October 27, Magnolia Pictures), an art-world satire shot in majority Swedish with some English from stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Dominic West, thus giving Östlund another shot after “Force Majeure” was a surprise 2015 Oscar omission.

Germany’s choice, Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade” (December 27, Magnolia Pictures), won Best Actress for Diane Kruger at Cannes.

The final deadline for submitting each country’s film for consideration for the foreign-language Oscar was October 2. Last year 85 were finally deemed eligible by the Academy; this year the number is a record 92. Haiti, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria are first-time entrants. These films are vying for the initial shortlist of 9, and final five nominations to be announced on January 23. See the final list below.

Read More:Oscar Announces Changes for Foreign-Film Voting: Now Simpler! (Sort Of.)

The frontrunners include Sweden selected Ruben Östlund’s hilarious Palme d’Or-winner “The Square” (October 27, Magnolia Pictures), an art-world satire shot in majority Swedish with some English from stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Dominic West, thus giving Östlund another shot after “Force Majeure” was a surprise 2015 Oscar omission.

Germany’s choice, Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade” (December 27, Magnolia Pictures), won Best Actress for Diane Kruger at Cannes.

The Space Between.

The co-production treaty between Australia and Italy entered into force 20 years ago. However, somewhat remarkably, writer-director Ruth Borgobello.s debut feature The Space Between - which had its world premiere at the Lavazza Italian Film Festival last week -. is the first official film to result from it.

The Space Between is a cross-cultural romance set in Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region in north-east Italy. It charts the story of Marco, played by Italian actor Flavio Parenti (To Rome with Love, I am Love), a former chef who has been drawn back to his hometown of Udine to look after his father and is stuck working a dispiriting factory job.

Marco.s life is shaken early in the film by the death of someone close to him. The tragedy coincides with his meeting the intriguing Australian visitor Olivia (Maeve Dermody, Beautiful Kate, Pawno), whose life is also at a crossroads.

Italian-Australian coproduction tackles love and loss but Ruth Borgobello’s dialogue doesn’t do her film any favours

The film co-production treaty signed between Italy and Australia in 1993 did not exactly spark a new genre of spaghetti-Down Under cinematic hybrids. In fact, when it comes to collaborations between the two countries, the feature film directorial debut of Ruth Borgobello – a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts – is the first of its kind.

The Space Between, which plays as part of this month’s touring Lavazza film festival, is a romantic drama set in northern Italy, about a depressed, bottomed-out chef and a Melbournian who puts some zest back into his life (with, yes, a side serve of cheese).

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Maeve Dermody will play Olivia, a free-spirited Aussie girl living in Italy, in romantic drama The Space Between.

The debut feature from writer-director Ruth Borgobello is in pre-production and the shoot will start in northern Italy on May 7

Flavio Parenti (To Rome with Love, I am Love ) is the lead, Marco, a 35-year-old who has a dispiriting job as a factory worker in Udine despite his skill as a chef amid the deepening economic crisis in Italy.

He passes his time in an empty relationship and after his best friend Claudio is killed in a car accident he tries to keep Claudio.s struggling bookshop business alive. Then he encounters Olivia, an aspiring furniture designer who is visiting Italy, the land of her father and grandparents.

Dermody recently finished shooting Paul Currie.s romantic thriller 2.22, playing the ex-girlfriend of an air traffic controller in New York (Game of Thrones. Michiel Huisman...

Writer-director Ruth Borgobello is casting her debut feature, a cross-cultural romantic drama set in northern Italy.

Remarkably, The Space Between will be the first official co-production between Italy and Australia since the two countries signed a treaty in 1996.

.We.ve worked really hard to develop this relationship and have created a very strong network here that we hope to carry into further projects,. the Melbourne-based Borgobello told If via email from Italy, where she is scouting locations.

Flavio Parenti (To Rome with Love, I am Love ) will play the lead, Marco, a 35-year-old who has a dispiriting job at a factory in Udine despite his skill as a chef, amid the deepening economic crisis in Italy.

Eschewing real love, he passes his time in an empty relationship. After his best friend Claudio is killed in a car accident, he tries to keep Claudio.s struggling bookshop business alive. Then he encounters Olivia,...