More than 50 countries have announced their submissions in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category, and so far the race is wide and varied, but without the kind of clear favorite that “Parasite,” “Roma” and “Amour” were in the last years. .
On the other hand, the Japanese film “Drive My Car” didn’t seem like one of last year’s favorites at this point, but it swept the critics’ awards and became a prohibitive favorite when Oscar voters began voting. So maybe there’s a dominant movie in the mix, but we don’t know it yet.
Still, with key countries such as France, Italy, Denmark and Mexico yet to announce their race entries, the series has a few favorites and plenty of uncertainty as the October 3 deadline for entries approaches.
Four of the biggest titles premiered at this year’s Cannes film festival: Marie Kreutzer’s adventurous period drama “Corsage,” starring Vicky Krieps as the 19th-century Austrian Empress Elisabeth; Lukas Dhont’s tender coming-of-age film “Close,” the Belgian national team; “EO”, almost without words, by Jerzy Skolimowski, a road movie from the point of view of a donkey presented by Poland; and South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s elegant crime story/love story hybrid, “Decision to Leave.”
Other films that could be positioned to do well include The German Selection, Edward Berger’s harrowing new take on the classic anti-war novel “All Quiet on the Western Front,” a Netflix release; the Spanish “Alcarras”, a drama by Carla Simon that won the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival; and “Our Brothers” from director Rachid Boucharev, who has represented Algeria seven times in the Oscar race, earning three of the country’s five nominations.
As usual, the rule that allows an Academy-approved body in each country to choose that country’s Oscar submission has led to some surprises. India, continuing a long history of overlooking the films that seem to have the best chance at nominations, opted for the “Cinema Paradiso” style “Last Film Show” instead of the international sensation “RRR”. When that news was announced, “RRR” immediately appealed to Oscar voters to consider it Best Picture.
Romania, meanwhile, chose Monica Stan and George Chiper’s “Immaculate” over Cristian Mungiu’s “RMN,” one of the directors who helped launch the acclaimed New Romanian Cinema movement with films like “4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 days”. .” (The country’s selection committee has often chosen films by key directors in that movement, including Cristi Puiu, Corneliu Porumboiu and Radu Jude, but none of them were nominated; the country finally got its first nomination when it submitted the documentary “Collective.” two years ago.)
Several other notable movies are still in the works from their countries. Denmark has narrowed its choices to three films, including Border director Ali Abbasi’s harrowing “Holy Spider,” about a real-life serial killer who preys on prostitutes in Iran. France has narrowed its contenders to five, including Mia Hansen-Love’s “One Fine Morning,” Alice Winocour’s “Paris Memories” and Alice Diop’s “Saint Omer.” The 12 finalists from Italy include “The Eight Mountains” by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersh, who also collaborated on the 2012 Belgian nominee “The Broken Circle Breakdown.”
And Mexico, which has been on the list of finalists the last two years in a row and won for “Roma” in 2018, announced a list of five finalists, one of which, “La Caja” by Lorenzo Vigas, was removed from the table. when Venezuela made their submission. By far the best known of the remaining finalists is “Bardo (False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths),” which received mixed reviews at the Venice and Telluride festivals but comes from Alejandro G. Inarritu, whose films have won eight Oscars. , including Best Picture for “Birdman.”
For the second year, director Susanne Bier and curator Rajendra Roy will head the International Feature Films Executive Committee. Bier first became co-chair of the committee when the late Diane Weyermann recused herself in 2020, while Roy came in last year when term limits forced Larry Karaszewski to leave the committee.
The films will be available in a special screening room dedicated to the category on the Academy Screening Room members-only site, though no films are currently available and members have not yet been invited to join the committee voting for the international award. The Academy can also hold official in-person screenings in Los Angeles, a screening option that hasn’t been available for the past two years, but that option has yet to be determined.
Here is the list of movies that have been announced by their countries of origin. The Academy must still review these films to ensure they meet eligibility requirements, so inclusion on this list does not guarantee that the film will qualify. (Bulgaria originally submitted “Mother”, which was deemed ineligible because more than 50% of its dialogue was in English.)
Albania: “A cup of coffee and new shoes”, Gentian Koci
Algeria: “Our brothers”, Rachid Bouchareb
Armenia: “Dawn of the Dawn”, Inna Sahakyan
Austria: “Corsage”, Marie Kreutzer
Belgium: “Close”, Lukas Dhont
Bolivia: “Utama”, Alejandro Loayza Grisi
Bosnia and Herzegovina: “A Ballad”, Aida Begic
Brazil: “Mars One”, Gabriel Martins
Canada: “Eternal Spring”, Jason Loftus
Costa Rica: “Sunday and the fog”, Ariel Escalante
Croatia: “Safe place”, Juraj Lerotic
Czech Republic: “Il Boemo”, Petr Vaclav
Ecuador: “The Invisible”, Javier Andrade
Finland: “Image of girls”, Alli Haapasalo
Georgia: “A long break”, Davit Pirtskhalava
Germany: “All Quiet on the Western Front”, Edward Berger
Greece: “Magnetic Fields”, Yorgos Goussis
Guatemala: “The silence of the mole”, Anais Taracena
Hungary: “Block”, Adam Toser
Iceland: “Beautiful Beings”, Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson
India: “Last Feature Film”, Pan Nalin
Indonesia: “Ngeri-Ngeri Sedap”, Bene Dion Rajagukguk
Iran: “World War III”, Houman Seyyedi
Ireland: “The Quiet Girl”, Colm Bairead
Israel: “Sabaya Cinema”, Orit Fouks Rotem
Japan: “Plan 75”, Chie Hayakawa
Kazakhstan: “Life”, Emir Baigazin
Kosovo: “Looking for Venera”, Norika Sefa
Latvia: “January”, Viestur Kairish
Lithuania: “Pilgrims”, Laurynas Bareisa
Moldova: “Carbon”, Ion Bors
Montenegro: “The elegy of the laurel”, Dusan Kasalica
Nepal: “Butterfly on the window pane”, Sujit Bidari
Netherlands: “Narcosis”, Martijn de Jong
New Zealand: “Muru”, Tearepa Kahi
Palestine: “Mediterranean Fever”, Maha Haj
Panama: “Birthday Boy”, Arturo Montenegro
Paraguay: “Eami”, Paz Encina
Poland: “EO”, Jerzy Skolimowski
Portugal: “Alive Soul”, Cristele Alves Meira
Romania: “Immaculate”, Monica Stan, George Chiper
Serbia: “Love”, Dusan Milic
Slovakia: “Victim”, Michal Blasko
Slovenia: “Orchestra”, Matevz Luzar
South Korea: “Decision to Leave”, Park Chan-wook
Spain: “Alcarrás”, Carla Simón
Sweden: “Child of Heaven”, Tarik Saleh
Switzerland: “A piece of heaven”, Michael Koch
Taiwan: “Damn Asura”, Lou Yi-an
Tanzania: “Tug and Tug”, Amil Shivji
Tunisia: “Under the fig trees”, Erige Sehiri
Turkey: “Kerr”, Tayfun Pirselimoglu
Uganda: “Tembele”, Morris Mugisha
Ukraine: “Klondike”, Maryna Er Gorbach
Uruguay: “The employer and the employee”, Manolo Nieto
Venezuela: “The Box”, Lorenzo Vigas
