Sergei Bodrov, Mongol

With two features Oscar-nominated as Best Foreign Language Film, Russian director Sergei Bodrov knows he's doing something right. But as he explains, after his first nod for Fire on the Mountains, a 1997 adaptation of a Tolstoy story about war in Chechnya, he knew when Mongol was nominated this year that "It wasn't going to change my life." What did change Bodrov's life was the death of his movie star son Sergei Jr. nearly six years ago in an avalanche. The younger Bodrov, on location as director and star, was lost in a matter of seconds, along with 39 others. Maybe Mongol, an epic biography of Genghis Khan, is Bodrov's search for human resilience in the face of great misfortune.

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