Ninety-two films have been entered in the race for the Best International Film Oscars, one short of the category record of 93 set in 2020 and tied last year.
The 92 films do not make up the Academy’s official list of qualified films, which will likely be announced in early December before the start of shortlist voting. But the Academy members who volunteered to participate in that first round of voting have been divided into 11 different groups, and those 92 movies make up the movies voters have been asked to watch and consider.
Group assignments were emailed to Academy members on Friday, and TheWrap put together this list of the movies assigned to the 11 different groups.
There is still a chance that some movies may not meet all the rating criteria and be removed from the final list. Last year, however, every one of the 93 films assigned to voters ended up on the official AMPAS list in the category.
The highest-profile films in this year’s race include “Bardo, a false chronicle of a handful of truths” (Mexico), “All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany), “Decision to Leave” (South Korea) , “Cerrar” (Belgium), “Corsage” (Austria), “War Sailor” (Denmark), “Saint Omer” (France), “Argentina, 1985” (Argentina), “Holy Spider” (Denmark) and “Return to Seoul” (Cambodia), among others.
Malta previously announced that it had submitted Valerie Buhagiar’s “Carmen,” but that film was not on any of the assignment lists.
The voting rules for the international feature film award have changed this year. In the past, voters were divided into four or five groups, and each group was given a list of about 20 movies, with instructions to watch a certain number of movies (last year, 12) from that list. This year there are more groups but only eight or nine films in each group. Voters must see all of their group’s movies for their vote to count.
Instead of the in-person screenings of eligible films that were held in the years before the pandemic, all films will be available on a special Academy Screening Room platform dedicated to the category. At the time the group assignments were made on Friday, 78 of the 92 movies were on the platform, new movies were being added every Friday, and an email from the Academy stated that all movies would be available on the platform by 11 of November.
Shortlist voting begins on December 12 and runs through December 15, with a short list of 15 films announced on December 21.
Instead of the in-person screenings of eligible films that took place in pre-pandemic years, all films will be available on a special Academy Screening Room platform dedicated to the category. At the time the group assignments were made on Friday, 78 of the 92 films were on the platform, with an email from the Academy stating that all films would be available on the platform by November 11.
Shortlist voting begins on December 5 and runs through December 10, with a short list of 15 films announced on December 21.
TheWrap has compiled a full list of the contenders, with descriptions of each film and links to subtitled trailers when available.
Here is the list of the 92 films that were assigned to the voters:
Albania: “A cup of coffee and new shoes”
Algeria: “Our brothers”
Argentina: “Argentina, 1985”
Armenia: “The dawn of the dawn”
Australia: “You will not be alone”
Austria: “Corsage”
Azerbaijan: “Creators”
Bangladesh: “Hawa”
Belgium: “Close”
Bolivia: “Utama”
Bosnia and Herzegovina: “A Ballad”
Brazil: “Mars One”
Bulgaria: “In the heart of the machine”
Cambodia: “Back to Seoul”
Cameroon: “The plantation of the planters”
Canada: “Eternal Spring”
Chile: “White”
China: “Nice view”
Colombia: “The Kings of the World”
Costa Rica: “Sunday and the Fog”
Croatia: “safe place”
Czech Republic: “Il Boemo”
Denmark: “Holy Spider”
Dominican Republic: “Mama Bantú”
Ecuador: “The Invisible”
Estonian: “Kalev”
Finland: “Girl image”
France: “Saint Omer”
Georgia: “A long break”
Germany: “All quiet on the Western Front”
Greece: “Magnetic Fields”
Guatemala: “The Silence of the Mole”
Hong Kong: “Where the wind blows”
Hungary: “Lockdown”
Iceland: “Beautiful Beings”
India: “Last cinematographic function”
Indonesia: “Missing Home”
Iran: “World War III”
Iraq: “The Exam”
Ireland: “The Quiet Girl”
Israel: “Sabaya Cinema”
Italy: “Nostalgia”
Japan: “Plan 75”
Jordan: “Farha”
Kazakhstan: “Life”
Kenya: “TeraStorm”
Kosovo: “Looking for Venera”
Kyrgyzstan: “House for sale”
Latvia: “January”
Lebanon: “Memory Box”
Lithuania: “Pilgrims”
Luxembourg: “Icarus”
Mexico: “Bardo, false chronicle of a handful of truths”
Moldova: “Carbon”
Mongolia: “Harvest Moon”
Montenegro: “The Elegy of the Laurel”
Morocco: “The blue caftan”
Nepal: “Butterfly on a window pane”
Holland: “Narcosis”
New Zealand: “Muru”
North Macedonia: “The happiest man in the world”
Norway: “War Sailor”
Pakistan: “Land of Joy”
Palestine: “Mediterranean Fever”
Panama: “Birthday Boy”
Paraguay: “Eami”
Peru: “Heart of the Moon”
Philippines: “At Work: The 8 Disappeared”
Poland: “EO”
Portugal: “Living Soul”
Romania: “Imaculat”
Saudi Arabia: “Song of the Raven”
Senegal: “Xalé”
Serbia: “Sweetheart”
Singapore: “Ajoomma”
Slovakia: “Victim”
Slovenia: “Orchestra”
South Korea: “Decision to leave”
Spain: “Alcarras”
Sweden: “Child of Heaven”
Switzerland: “A piece of heaven”
Taiwan: “Damn Asura”
Tanzania: “tug of war”
Thailand: “One for the road”
Tunisia: “Under the fig trees”
Turkey: “Kerr”
Uganda: “Shake it”
Ukraine: “Klondike”
UK: “Winners”
Uruguay: “The boss and the worker”
Venezuela: “The Box”
Vietnam: “578: Magnum”
