A24’s “The Zone of Interest” is spoken in German, but was filmed in Poland and is written and directed by a British author. So what does this mean for its Best International Feature Oscar prospects?
Written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest” premiered last week at the Cannes Film Festival where it became an early favorite for the coveted Palme d’Or after winning widespread acclaim.
The film tells the story of an Auschwitz commandant, Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), and his wife Hedwige (Sandra Hüller) who strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden in side of the camp which was one of the sites where six million Jews were murdered.
In recent years, it seems that more non-English language features are submitted that are not spoken in the native language of the country. The crime thriller “Holy Spider,” spoken almost entirely in Farsi, and the animated documentary “Flee,” in English, Danish, Dari, Swedish, and Russian, both featured Denmark, for example.
Under Academy rules, a film can be selected as a country’s entry as long as it is funded by producers or companies in that country and/or the majority of its crew members are from there. Cannes lists the film as an American, British and Polish production.
In the case of “Zone”, the film was financed equally by A24, which handles theatrical distribution in the United States, along with British production companies Film4 and Access Industry. Jim Wilson, one of the film’s producers, is British, as is director Glazer. Ewa Puszczyńska, another producer is Polish, and her involvement helped secure contributions from the Polish Film Institute, which could provide the pathway for Poland’s entry. The selection of the country that will submit is still under consideration, according to distributor A24.
The film’s only connection to Germany itself is that it is spoken in German.
The UK has submitted international feature films on an irregular basis since 1991, submitting 18 films in 32 years. Of these, only two got names – 1993’s ‘Hedd Wyn’ and 1999’s ‘Solomon and Gaenor’ – both spoken in Welsh.
The UK submission is chosen by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. If it were to go that route, “Zone” would be the first German-language film to represent the UK.
Each country has a different process for choosing their selection, a process that is often fraught with politics and controversy.
Hirokazu Kore-eda made his return to the Croisette this year with his very moving “Monster”, after leading the daring “Broker” with Song Kang-ho last year. However, the film faced an impossible hurdle in order to have a chance of gaining international Oscar recognition. South Korea would not select a film directed by a Japanese filmmaker, whereas conversely a film in Korean would be an impossible choice for Kore-eda’s native country. The Neon movie was all but shut out of awards season, despite critical acclaim.
“The Zone of Interest” won’t just be an angle for the international feature film award. This will be one of A24’s main awards priorities for this upcoming awards season, which will also include Celine Song’s “Past Lives” as well as possible other entries. The studio just won every major Oscar category last year, including best picture winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
All this talk about the UK bid has got me wondering – if the UK can make it to the Oscars in an international feature, can the US make it to the BAFTA?
The answer is “yes”, but not as the sole “representation” of the United States because there is no official bid committee. American films managed to receive five BAFTA nominations in the best non-English language film category, although some were shared with other countries. These are “A Very Long Engagement” (2004) by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, “Apocalypto” (2006) by Mel Gibson, “First They Killed My Father” (2017) by Angelina Jolie, “The Farewell” ( 2019) by Lulu Wang and Lee Isaac “Minari” by Chung (2020). None were winners. Coincidentally, the latter two were also distributed by A24.
For now, even without knowing which country will present it in the category, “The Zone of Interest” has established itself as an early favorite for best international feature film.