Welcome to Deadline’s roundup of the submissions for this year’s Best International Feature Film Oscar category. Below you will find details on each movie that has been officially put forward so far, and we will update the post as more titles are added. This is a hotly contested race that often results in clear front-runners but also surprising gems.
In alphabetical order by country, these are the entries so far:
ALBANIA
Title: Waterdrop
Director: Robert Budina
Prod: Erafilm
Notes: Waterdrop, which will have its festival premiere in Warsaw next month, is set on the shores of Lake Ohrid where City Planner Aida, a tough and successful businesswoman, manages the allocation of lucrative EU subsidies, navigating a corrupt system. Her carefully constructed life crumbles when her teenage son is accused of sexual assault by a classmate. Aida launches her own investigation, defying both her husband’s wishes and the police. As she delves deeper, Aida encounters a suffocating wall of silence, envy and deep-seated prejudice, and must decide how far she’s willing to go and what she’s prepared to sacrifice in her quest for justice. Budina is repping Albania for the second time; an advancement to the shortlist would be a first for the country.
ALGERIA
Title: Algiers
Director: Chakib Taleb-Bendiab
Sales: MAD Solutions
Notes: The kidnapping of a little girl creates tension and suspicion in Algiers. Only Dounia, a brilliant psychiatrist, and Sami, a police inspector, can unearth the demons of the past. Taleb-Bendiab’s debut feature world premiered at the Flickers’ Rhode Island Film Festival where it won the Grand Prize for Best Feature. Algeria has won the Oscar in the category once, on its first try with Costa-Gavras’ 1969 political thriller Z. Since then, it’s garnered four nominations, including three for Rachid Bouchareb.
ARGENTINA
Title: Kill the Jockey
Director: Luis Ortega
Sales: Protagonist
Notes: This absurdist comedy centers on a legendary jockey whose self-destructive behavior is beginning to outshine his talent and threaten his relationship with his girlfriend. On the day of the most important race of his career that will clear him of his debts to mobster boss Sirena, he has a severe accident, disappears from the hospital and wanders the streets of Buenos Aires. Free from his identity, he starts to discover who he is truly meant to be. But Sirena wants him found, dead or alive. Kill the Jockey premiered in Venice before playing TIFF. This is Ortega’s second time repping Argentina which has previously scored two wins and another six nominations.
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ARMENIA
Title: Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev
Director: Edgar Baghdasaryan
Prod: Edgar Baghdasaryan Film Production
Notes: Yasha struggles to accept the new realities of post-Soviet Union life. With the help of historical leaders like Brezhnev and Ceausescu, he clings to the past with humorous and tragic consequences. This is Baghdasaryan’s first time repping Armenia which has made the shortlist only once, for last year’s Amerikatsi.
AUSTRIA
Title: The Devil’s Bath
Directors: Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala
Sales: Shudder
Notes: This period horror movie set against the backdrop of 18th century Austria stars Anja Plaschg as a woman trapped in a marriage with a disinterested husband and controlling mother-in-law who makes her life hell. Struggling with the isolation and despair of her unfulfilling existence, she descends down a dark and disturbing path. Franz and Fiala’s Goodnight Mommy repped Austria in 2015, but did not make the shortlist. The country has previously been nominated four times, converting two of those to wins for Michael Haneke’s Amour and Stefan Ruzowitzky’s The Counterfeiters.
BELGIUM
Title: Julie Keeps Quiet
Director: Leonardo Van Dijl
Sales: New Europe Film Sales
Notes: As the star player at an elite tennis academy, Julie’s life revolves around the game she loves. When her coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club’s players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep mum. The film premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week, taking the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution. This is Van Dijl’s first time out repping Belgium; the country itself has eight nominations under its belt, but no wins so far.
BOLIVIA
Title: Own Hand
Director: Gory Patiño
Prod: Macondo Art
Notes: A prosecutor, a father and his son fight to survive and seek justice in the midst of a mob-driven lynching in a Bolivian town, exposing the dangerous consequences of vigilante justice. No Bolivian feature has ever been nominated for an International Oscar, nor advanced to the shortlist.
BRAZIL
Title: I’m Still Here
Director: Walter Salles
U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Notes: Veteran Salles returns for the fourth time to rep Brazil with his comeback feature that stars Fernanda Torres as the real-life figure Eunice Paiva, whose husband Rubens Paiva disappeared in the early years of the Brazilian military dictatorship. Torres’ mother, Fernanda Montenegro, who is considered one of the greatest Brazilian actresses of all time, also briefly shares the Eunice Paiva role. Salles has been nominated before in this category while Brazil has never won the trophy.
BULGARIA
Title: Triumph
Director: Kristina Grozeva & Peter Valchanov
Sales: Bankside
Notes: Triumph is the final part of a trilogy by Grozeva and Valchanov that also includes the 2014 The Lesson and 2016’s Glory. The military satire is inspired by well-known real-life events from the 1990s when, in the chaotic aftermath of the fall of communism, a task force comprised of high-ranking Bulgarian army officers and psychics embarked on a top-secret military operation in the small village of Tsarichina to dig up an elusive alien artifact that would change the course of history and make Bulgaria great again. Borat 2 Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova stars and produces. Grozeva and Valchanov have repped their country twice before in this category (with Glory and 2020’s The Father). Bulgaria has made the shortlist once, for 2009’s The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner.
CAMBODIA
Title: Meeting with Pol Pot
Director: Rithy Panh
Sales: Playtime
Notes: Panh’s narrative follows three French journalists who fly to Democratic Kampuchea, as the Khmer Rouge regime called Cambodia in 1978, in the hopes of an exclusive interview with Pol Pot. By this time, the country has been under the rule of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge for three years. The journalists embark on a tightly stage-managed tour of the regime’s policies in action; as they find a different reality behind the propaganda, their convictions are gradually turned upside down. Panh is perhaps Cambodia’s most internationally known filmmaker and has repped the nation four times. His 2013 The Missing Picture was nominated.
CANADA
Title: Universal Language
Director: Matthew Rankin
U.S. Distributor: Oscilloscope Laboratories
Notes: Universal Language is set in winter, somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg, watching as Negin and Nazgol find a large sum of money frozen deep within the sidewalk ice and try to find a way to get it out. Massoud leads a group of befuddled tourists upon an increasingly absurd walking tour of Winnipeg monuments and historic sites. Matthew leaves his job at the Québec government and embarks upon a mysterious journey to visit his estranged mother. Time, geography and identities crossfade, interweave and collide into a surreal comedy of misdirection. The film premiered in Cannes earlier this year, and this is Rankin’s first time repping his country. It has received seven nominations, with one turning into a win — for Denys Arcand’s 2003 The Barbarian Invasions.
CHILE
Title: In Her Place
Director: Maite Alberti
U.S. Distributor: Netflix
Notes: Produced by Pablo Larrain’s Fabula, which was behind Chile’s only Oscar win in this category – 2017’s A Fantastic Woman — Alberti’s film is set in 1955 Chile. When the popular writer María Carolina Geel kills her lover, the case captivates Mercedes, the shy secretary of the presiding judge. After visiting the writer’s apartment, Mercedes begins to question her life, identity, and the role of women in society as she finds an oasis of freedom in that home. The world premiere was held in San Sebastian.
COLOMBIA
Title: La Suprema
Director: Felipe Holguín
Prod: Cumbia Films
Notes: In a remote Colombian village without electricity, a strong-willed teenager convinces her whole town to find a way of watching her estranged uncle compete in a world championship boxing match. The film premiered at TIFF in 2023. Colombia scored its first and only nomination with 2015’s Embrace of the Serpent; it advanced to the shortlist with 2018’s Birds of Passage.
COSTA RICA
Title: Memories of a Burning Body
Director: Anotonella Sudasassi Furniss
Sales: Bendita Film Sales
Notes: Sudasassi Furniss returns to rep Costa Rica after 2019’s The Awakening of Ants. With this latest, which debuted in the Panorama section of Berlin, the story centers on three women who grew up during a repressive era when sexuality was a taboo subject. Sexa- and septugenarians Ana, Patricia and Mayela developed their understanding of what it means to be a woman based on unspoken rules and implicit expectations. Now they dare to talk about it openly. The memories, secrets and longings of the three are interwoven while the women tell their stories off screen, as they fill the body of another woman of their generation who incarnates their lives. Costa Rica has never advanced to the shortlist.
CROATIA
Title: Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day
Director: Ivona Juka
Prod: 4 Film
Notes: This is Juka’s first time repping Croatia, which has never advanced to the shortlist. The drama follows four friends who rebelled against the Nazi regime and joined the NOB (People’s Liberation Movement). Sixteen years later, they are renowned artists who feel entitled to criticize the society they fought for. Although they are veterans worthy of the NOB, the party doesn’t like the films they create, and when their sexuality becomes suspicious, they hire Agent Emir to sabotage their work.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Title: Waves
Director: Jiří Mádl
Sales: Urban Sales
Notes: Mádl’s historical thriller revolves around the international news office at Czechoslovak Radio, a place full of talented individuals possessing broad insight, linguistic skills and, above all, a commitment to honest work with a focus on the truth. Winner of the Karlovy Vary Audience Award, the film embraces heroism in the face of an oppressive regime, the strength of fraternal ties and the themes of love, betrayal, morality and hope. The Czech Republic has had three nominations since 1994, with the first converting to a win for Jan Sverak’s Koyla. Most recently, Agnieszka Holland’s Charlatan made the shortlist in 2022.
DENMARK
Title: The Girl with the Needle
Director: Magnus von Horn
U.S. Distributor: Mubi
Notes: Karoline, a young factory worker, is struggling to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen. When she finds herself unemployed, abandoned and pregnant, she meets Dagmar, a charismatic woman running an underground adoption agency, helping mothers to find foster homes for their unwanted children. With nowhere else to turn, Karoline takes on the role of a wet-nurse and a strong connection is formed between the two women, but Karoline’s world shatters when she stumbles upon the shocking truth behind her work. The Girl with the Needle premiered in the Cannes competition. Four Danish films have previously won an Oscar in the International Feature Film category, most recently Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round.
ECUADOR
Title: Behind the Mist
Director: Sebastián Cordero
Prod: Jiráfica Fábrica de Cuentos
Notes: More than 20 years after Iván Vallejo became the first Ecuadorian to reach the top of Mount Everest in 1999, he embarks on another climb, this time with filmmaker Cordero. In the midst of their odyssey, they realize they share many life coincidences but have opposing views on how to envision the documentary. Conversations about mountains and cinema will lead to an exchange of philosophical reflections. As the days pass, the increase in altitude and decrease in oxygen will elevate the debate, challenging both their trajectories and personal significance in the face of the mountain’s ancient magnitude and depth. This is Cordero’s third time repping Ecuador which has never advanced to the shortlist.
EGYPT
Title: Flight 404
Director: Hani Khalifa
U.S. Distributor: Ceema Films
Notes: A box office hit in the MENA region, this female-empowerment thriller centers on Ghada, who attempts to obtain money for her mother’s sudden emergency surgery while preparing to depart Egypt to perform the Hajj. In doing so, she is forced to return to people from a tainted past. The film won the Special Jury Award and the Best Actress Award at the 13th Luxor African Film Festival. One of the world’s most prolific filmmaking countries, Egypt has never advanced to the shortlist.
ESTONIA
Title: 8 Views of Lake Biwa
Director: Marko Raat
Sales: Film Republic
Notes: A mysterious chain of tragedies and adventures follows a disaster in an Estonian village in what is billed as a free flowing, meditative journey through borders and cultural differences. 8 Views of Lake Biwa premiered at Rotterdam this year. This is Raat’s first time repping his country which previously scored its only nomination with 2014’s Tangerines.
FINLAND
Title: Family Time
Director: Tia Kouvo
Sales: The Match Factory
Notes: This tragicomic study on family dynamics, loneliness and being together is Kouvo’s feature debut and premiered in Berlin in 2023. It begins during a Christmas family gathering where everything goes as usual; grandfather drinks too much and grandmother is trying to keep up everyone’s mood. After Christmas, the family members go back to their own private lives, until it’s time for yet another family occasion. Finland has made the shortlist three times in the last decade, though it has advanced to only one nomination, for 2002’s The Man Without a Past.
FRANCE
Title: Emilia Pérez
Director: Jacques Audiard
U.S. Distributor: Netflix
Notes: A major title at this year’s Cannes — scooping a collective Best Actress prize for its quartet of leads — Emilia Peréz implements song, dance and visuals to chronicle the journeys of four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. Among them is Rita, an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, who agrees to help the fearsome cartel leader Emilia fake her death so that she can finally live authentically as her true self. France is one of the most nominated countries in Oscar history, but has had a recently checkered past in terms of its selections (the committee has was overhauled this summer). It has not had a win since 1992’s Indochine, but has made the shortlist or been nominated five times in the last decade. Audiard’s last nomination in this category was for 2009’s A Prophet.
GEORGIA
Title: The Antique
Director: Rusudan Glurjidze
Sales: MPM Premium
Notes: Glurjidze’s drama takes inspiration from the real-life illegal expulsion of thousands of Georgian nationals from Russia in 2006, a group that included the director. The film revisits the period through the story of the friendship between an elderly Russian man and a young Georgian woman in Saint Petersburg. Its selection as the country’s rep came just two weeks after the feature was caught up in an unexpected legal battle at the Venice Film Festival when an emergency decree issued on behalf of Russian and Croatian producers led to the temporary suspension of its screening in the Giornate degli Autori section. Georgia received its first and only nomination on its first try, with 1996’s A Chef in Love. Since then, it has made the shortlist once, for 2014’s Corn Island.
GERMANY
Title: The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Director: Mohammad Rasoulof
U.S. Distributor: Neon
Notes: Iranian filmmaker Rasoulof’s political thriller centers on Iman, a devout man who is promoted to the position of investigating judge at the Revolutionary Court in Tehran just as a huge protest movement sweeps the country following the death of a young woman. As the state cracks down with tougher measures, he sides with the regime, upsetting the balance of his family, while his daughters are swept up in the events and his wife desperately tries to keep everyone together. When Iman discovers that his service weapon has disappeared, he comes to suspect a family member is responsible. Rasoulof has been living in Germany ever since his dramatic flight from his native Iran in May this year. He attended the world premiere screening in Cannes that same month where the film went on to win the Special Jury Prize among other accolades. Germany has a strong track record at the Oscars, with three wins and another 10 nominations since unification.
GREECE
Title: The Murderess
Director: Eva Nathena
Sales: Tanweer
Notes: Based on Alexandros Papadiamantis’ novel, The Murderess takes place on a remote island in Greece, circa 1900. There, Hadoula, trapped in her own mother’s rejection, struggles to survive the dictates of a patriarchal society. The film has taken several prizes including the Audience Award in Thessaloniki last year. The submission of Murderess in early September followed a turbulent selection process after a series of chaotic government-mandated U-turns that paralyzed the proceedings. Overall, the country has had five nominations, but never converted to a win.
HONG KONG
Title: Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In
Director: Soi Cheang
Sales: Media Asia Film Distribution
Notes: Cheang’s martial arts neo-noir is the International Feature entry with the biggest box office, having grossed close to $100M worldwide since its release in Hong Kong and China on May 1, 2024, ahead of an international premiere in Cannes’ Midnight section. Set in 1980s Hong Kong, the picture follows the adventures of a young man from mainland China, who accidentally strays into the territory’s Kowloon Walled City. There, a lawless district which has since been demolished. Hong Kong, which has never won an Oscar, saw its entry A Light Never Goes Out disqualified last year due to a conflict of interests.
HUNGARY
Title: Semmelweis
Director: Lajos Koltai
Sales: NFI World Sales
Notes: Koltai was previously in the Oscar race as a cinematographer clinching a nomination for his work on Giuseppe Tornatore’s Malena at the 2001 awards. Some two decades later he is in the International Feature race with this period biopic celebrating 19th century pioneering Hungarian doctor Ignac Semmelweis. Known as the “Savior of Mothers,’ Semmelweis is heralded for his championing of better hygiene procedures to combat postpartum deaths. Released at home in November 2023, the picture has drawn 350,000 spectators to become the highest grossing Hungarian movie in five years. Hungary has been nominated eight times, shortlisted twice and won two Oscars in the category, lastly for László Nemes’ Son of Saul.
ICELAND
Title: Touch
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Sales: Focus Features
Notes: Kormákur’s fifth Icelandic Oscar entry is adapted from Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson’s best-selling novel, with the director writing the screenplay in collaboration with the author. Egil Ólafsson stars as a widower who is spurred by an early-stage dementia diagnosis to track down a long-lost Japanese love who disappeared from his life many decades earlier. As the world shuts down in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, he sets off on a bittersweet odyssey. The territory, which has only been nominated once, made it to the short list stage of the 2024 Oscars with Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland.
INDIA
Title: Laapataa Ladies
Director: Kiran Rao
U.S. Distributor: Netflix
Notes: The Hindi film which recently played TIFF, is a lighthearted satire on patriarchy, following two brides, whose identities are hidden by an elaborate head covering. On the eve of their wedding days, they get mixed up, setting them on the paths of very different destinies from those they had envisaged. This is Rao’s first time repping India whose prolific industry has notched three nominations, but never a win.
IRAN
Title: In the Arms of the Tree
Director: Babak Lotfi Khajepasha
Prod: Mohammad Reza Mesbah
Notes: A married couple destroys the beautiful life they created for their children when their relationship disintegrates in this family drama. Controversy surrounds Iran’s latest Oscar entry. Dissident Iranian cinema professionals are calling on AMPAS to reconsider its relationship with their country’s official state film body Farabi at a time when filmmakers who disagree with Iran’s authoritarian Islamist regime are being politically persecuted. The country has enjoyed Oscar success in the past thanks to Asghar Farhadi, who won in the category for A Separation and The Salesman and was nominated for A Hero. The director is now living outside of the country.
IRAQ
Title: Baghdad Messi
Director: Sahim Omar Kalifa
Sales: Goodfellas
Notes: Belgium-based Kurdish director Kalifa explores the impact on ordinary lives of the sectarian violence in Iraq through this tale of a young boy whose dreams of becoming a soccer player are dashed when he loses a leg in a terror attack. Kalifa has past Oscar form with a short film based on the same premise making it onto the shortlist in 2014 in the Live-Action Short category of the 87th Academy Awards.
IRELAND
Title: Kneecap
Directors: Rich Peppiatt
U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Notes: This drama takes inspiration from real-life West Belfast rap trio Kneecap. Its members – Móglai Bap, Mo Chara and DJ Provaí – broke fresh ground in the late 2010s for their tracks mixing Irish and English lyrics, tapping into the zeitgeist of the streets they grew up on in the wake of The Troubles. The ensemble cast also features Michael Fassbender in an Irish-speaking supporting role. A resurgence in Irish-language filmmaking has seen Ireland become a regular and consequential participant in the international feature film category in recent years with Colm Bairéad’s The Quiet Girl making it to the nomination stage in 2022.
ISRAEL
Title: Come Closer
Director: Tom Nesher
Sales: Fandango
Notes: Lia Elalouf stars as a young woman who becomes obsessed with her recently deceased brother’s secret girlfriend. Nesher, who is the daughter of renowned Israeli director Avi Nesher, took inspiration from the real-life death of her brother in a hit-and-run accident in 2018. Having world premiered at Tribeca, the picture won Best Film at the Israel Film Academy’s Ophir Awards in September making it Israel’s automatic Oscar entry. Israel, which has been nominated 10 times since 1964, last made it into the short list in 2017 with Samuel Maoz’s Foxtrot.
ITALY
Title: Vermiglio
Director: Maura Delpero
U.S. Distributor: Sideshow and Janus Films
Notes: A Sicilian deserter arrives in a remote village in the Italian Alps in 1944, changing the lives of the local teacher and his family forever in this studied period drama. When director Delpero won Venice’s Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize for the film in September, she expressed hope it would put her in the frame to represent Italy at the Oscars. The picture takes its title from the mountain village in the Italian Alps, which was home to Delpero’s family for generations and where the director immersed herself to write the screenplay. Italy, which has won the Best International Oscar 11 times, enjoyed a buzzy 2023-24 awards season with Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano which made it to the nomination stage.
JAPAN
Title: Cloud
Director: Kurosawa Kiyoshi
Sales: Nikkatsu
Notes: A-list festival regular Kurosawa takes his first shot at Oscar glory with this psychological thriller about a factory worker whose side hustle reselling goods online lands him in hot water. The film premiered Out of Competition in Venice, where Kurosawa previously won the Silver Lion for best director with Wife of a Spy in 2020. Japan has recently been on a streak with a nomination for Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days in 2023, and a win in 2022 with Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car.
JORDAN
Title: My Sweet Land
Director: Sareen Hairabedian
Prod: Sister
Notes: A documentary following 11-year-old Vrej, who dreams of becoming a dentist in his village in Artsakh in the region Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been at the heart of a violent dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia since the 1980s. When conflict erupts again, Vrej and his family flee, only to return to a devastated homeland after their people lost the war. As Vrej faces the new harsh realities and prepares for future battles, he wrestles with the weight of his hopes and trauma. Film premiered at the Sheffield DocFest ahead of playing a number of festivals including the Amman International Film Festival, where it won the Jury Award for Best Feature Documentary and the FIPRESCI Award for Best Feature Length Arab Documentary. Hairabedian reps Jordan for the first time; across six submissions, the country has been nominated once.
KAZAKHSTAN
Title: Bauryna Salu
Director: Askhat Kuchinchirekov
Sales: Wide Management
Notes: This coming-of-age tale revolves around a young boy who was raised by his grandmother, having been separated at birth from his parents under a nomadic tradition, called Bauryna Salu. When his grandmother dies, he goes to live with his parents for the first time. It’s a difficult reunion as he also deals with the challenges of puberty. Kuchinchirekov draws on his own childhood for this first feature. He is a protégé of award-winning director Sergey Dvortsevoy, also appearing in his film Ayka (2018), which made it onto the 2019 short list.
KENYA
Title: Nawi
Directors: Vallentine Chelluget, Apuu Mourine, Kevin Schmutzler, Toby Schmutzler
Prod: FilmCrew Media
Notes: Set in the rural Turkana region of northwestern Kenya, the titular heroine is a gifted high school student who challenges her father’s decision to a marry her off to an older stranger. The educational feature tackling the issue of illegal child marriage was initiated by the Kenya and German-based Learning Lions NGO, which brought in Munich-based FilmCrew Media to oversee the production directed by Kenyan directors Chelluget and Mourine alongside the Schmutzler from Germany.
KYRGYZSTAN
Title: Heaven is Beneath Mother’s Feet
Director: Ruslan Akun
Notes: Adil is a 35-year-old man whose mental development remained at the level of an 8-year-old child. Adil lives in a small village with his mother who always tells Adil that the Almighty loves him in a special way, and therefore he will go straight to Heaven. But Adil doesn’t want to go to Paradise without his mother. One day he hears from a boy that if he takes his mother on foot to Mecca, then his mother can go to Heaven. This was one of the highest-grossing films at the local box office, but has reportedly not seen festival play outside Russia. The country has never received a nomination.
LATVIA
Title: Flow
Director: Gints Zilbalodis
U.S. Distributor: Sideshow and Janus Films
Notes: After Hungary’s Four Souls of Coyote and Poland’s The Peasants last year, Latvia is the latest country to submit a feature animation to the International Feature category. The drama follows the adventures of a cat whose home is devastated by floods, forcing him to team up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land. The film world premiered to acclaim in Cannes, ahead of playing in competition in Annecy, where it won four prizes including the Jury and Audience awards.
LITHUANIA
Title: Drowning Dry
Director: Laurynas Bareiša
Sales: Alpha Violet
Notes: Winner of the Best Director prize in Locarno, the film follows two sisters’ lives in the aftermath of tragedy. Ernesta, her husband Lukas and her son are spending the weekend at a country house with her sister’s family after Lukas’ victory in a mixed martial arts tournament. The families are swimming in a nearby lake, having dinner, discussing family finances. After a tragic accident, the sisters become single mothers. Bareiša has previously repped Lithuania once; the country has never made it to the shortlist.
MALTA
Title: Castillo
Director: Abigail Mallia
Prod: Take Two
Notes: Delving into Malta’s political turmoil of the 1980s, this detective tale revolves around a woman who is trying to piece together the truth of her mother’s abandonment of her as a child shortly after her aunt’s suspicious death. The feature has been adapted from Clare Azzopardi’s 2018 novel by Maltese duo, director Abigail Mallia and screenwriter Carlos Debattista, who work under the banner of Take Two. It’s the fourth title to be submitted by Malta since it started participating in the category in 2014.
MEXICO
Title: Sujo
Directors: Astrid Rondero & Fernanda Valadez
U.S. Distributor: The Forge
Notes: The winner of Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema centers on the titular beloved son of a small-town cartel gunman who narrowly escapes death when his father is murdered. His aunt takes him in and raises him in the isolated countryside amidst hardship, poverty and the constant peril associated with his identity. When Sujo enters his teens a rebelliousness awakens in him and he joins the local cartel. As a young man, he attempts to make his life anew, away from the violence of his hometown. But when his father’s legacy catches up with him, he will come face-to-face with what seems to be his destiny. The filmmakers are repping Mexico for the first time. The has booked one win, for Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma, alongside another eight nominations. It has advanced to the shortlist each of the last four years.
MOROCCO
Title: Everybody Loves Touda
Director: Nabil Ayouch
Sales: mk2 Films
Notes: Ayouch represents Morocco for the sixth time with this drama that explores the country’s tradition of Sheikhat, a type of sung poetry performed by women which has its roots in 19th century rural communities. A young woman with aspirations of reviving the once hallowed status of Sheikhat finds herself instead performing in provincial bars under the gaze of lustful men. This is Morocco’s 20th Oscar submission since it started participating in the category in 1977. The country has never made it to nomination stage in the category, although recent submissions The Blue Caftan and The Mother of All Lies both made it onto the shortlist in 2022 and 2023.
NEPAL
Title: Shambhala
Director: Min Bahadur Bham
Sales: Best Friend Forever
Notes: The Nepalese Himalayas is one of the few places in the world where the practice of polyandry, allowing women to have several husbands, is prevalent. Nepal’s latest Oscar entry is driven by this premise as it follows a woman who treks across the mountains in pursuit of the father of her unborn child, who is her main husband alongside his two brothers. The film made history as the first Nepalese title to play in competition at the Berlinale this year. This is Bham’s second shot at an Oscar after Black Hen represented Nepal in 2016. The country has never won in the category but was nominated for French director Eric Valli’s Himalaya/Caravan in 1999.
NETHERLANDS
Title: Memory Lane
Director: Jelle de Jonge
Prod: Hazazah Pictures
Notes: Together for almost 50 years, Jaap and Maartje are jolted out of their humdrum existence by a letter from an old friend, which leads to a road trip from Netherlands to Southern Europe they last undertook many years ago. This journey through a much-altered landscape stirs up old memories but also reveals Maartje’s dementia, as the couple rediscover what it is they love about each other. Netherlands has plumped for a local crowd pleaser rather than an international film festival hit to represent it this year, with the film drawing some 200,000 spectators to date for a rough gross of $2.1M at home.
NORWAY
Title: Armand
Director: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
U.S. Distributor: IFC Films
Notes: Forty years after Ingmar Bergman last participated in the main Oscar categories with Fanny and Alexander, grandson Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel joins the awards season fray with his first feature. The psychological drama unfolds within a heated elementary school mediation session between two mothers — played by Ranate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) and Ellen Dorrit Petersen – after one of their young sons is accused of bullying the other. The film premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in May, becoming the first Norwegian film to win the Camera d’Or.
PALESTINE
Title: From Ground Zero
Director: Rashid Masharawi
Sales: Coorigines Production
Notes: Amid the daily images of death and destruction out of Gaza as Israel continues its military campaign in response to Hamas’s October 7 terror attacks, this year’s Palestinian entry captures life in the territory from another angle. Instigated by Gaza-born filmmaker Masharawi, the omnibus work gathers 22 shorts by filmmakers and artists capturing their relationship with their art amid the devastation around them. World premiering in an unofficial protest screening on the fringes of the Cannes Film Festival, it has since played officially at Toronto, Taormina and Amman. Palestine began submitting to the category in 2003 and has been nominated twice for Paradise Now and Omar, both by Hany Abu-Assad.
PANAMA
Title: Wake Up Mom
Director: Arianne Benedetti
Prod: Magma Cine
Notes: In a small town in the middle of the mountains, a girl disappears without leaving a trace. As the town’s darkest secrets begin to be revealed, the desperate mother of the little girl undertakes a tireless search trying to find her before it’s too late. A Guadalajara Film Festival selection, this is Benedetti’s second time repping Panama which has made the shortlist once, for the 94th Oscars.
PERU
Title: Yana-Wara
Directors: Óscar Catacora & Tito Catacora
Prod: Cine Aymara Studios
Notes: The communal justice system accuses 80-year-old Don Evaristo for the murder of his 13-year-old granddaughter, Yana-Wara. During the trial, everyone learns the tragic story of this young girl, who, because of gender violence, begins to have terrifying visions after being touched by the evil spirits that inhabit the forbidden places of the Andes. The film is the posthumous work of Óscar Catacora, following his death in 2021. It played the the Lima and Malaga Film Festivals in 2023. Peru’s sole nomination was for 2009’s The Milk of Sorrow.
POLAND
Title: Under the Volcano
Director: Damian Kocur
Sales: Salaud Morisset
Notes: World premiering as a special presentation at Toronto, this topical drama follows a Ukrainian family whose carefree vacation on the Spanish island of Tenerife is cut short by the Russian invasion of their country, transforming them from tourists into refugees. Director Kocur has said he was shaken by Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, which led him to explore questions around whether the world was becoming a more dangerous place. The film is also due to play London and Zurich. This year’s new look Polish Oscar selection committee was chaired by Paweł Pawlikowski, whose drama Ida won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar (as it was called then) in 2015.
PORTUGAL
Title: Grand Tour
Director: Miguel Gomes
U.S. Distributor: Mubi
Notes: Gomes won best director with for his black-and-white period odyssey at Cannes, playing in its main competition for the first time, having previously unveiled Arabian Nights in the Directors’ Fortnight parallel section. Opening in Rangoon, Burma in 1918, the drama follows British civil servant Edward Abbot as he flees his impending marriage, with fiancée Molly Singleton in hot pursuit. If Grand Tour advances, it would break Portugal’s run of not a single nomination or shortlisted entry.
ROMANIA
Title: Three Kilometers to the End of the World
Director: Emanuel Pârvu
Sales: Goodfellas
Notes: Pârvu’s thriller revolves around a 17-year-old who is spending the summer in his home village in the Danube Delta wetlands region. One night, he is brutally attacked on the street and the next day his world is turned upside-down. His parents no longer look at him as they did, and the seeming tranquility of the village starts to crack. The film premiered in Cannes, winning the Queer Palm and later taking Best Film at the Sarajevo festival. While Romania has had only one nomination in this race, its influence is undeniable — the category was overhauled when Cristian Mungiu’s lauded 2007 Palme d’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days failed to advance to the shortlist.
SENEGAL
Title: Dahomey
Director: Mati Diop
U.S. Distributor: Mubi
Notes: Diop’s Golden Bear-winning documentary borrows its name from the former West African kingdom of Dahomey, founded in the 17th century by King Houegbadja. Under his reign and that of his descendants, the kingdom was a considerable regional power, with a highly structured local economy, a centralized administration, a system of taxes, and a powerful army, including the famous Amazon women (Agodjié). The film opens in November 2021 as 26 royal treasures from the former Kingdom are about to leave Paris to return to their country of origin. Along with thousands of others, these artifacts were plundered by French colonial troops in 1892. But what do these ancient treasures mean in a country that has had to forge a new existence in their absence? Senegal has entered only six films in this category, making the shortlist twice, including with Diop’s 2019 debut, Atlantics.
SERBIA
Title: Russian Consul
Director: Miroslav Lekić
Prod: Telekom Srbija
Notes: Set in 1973, Lekić’s second entry for Serbia describes the beginning of the crisis in Kosovo. After the death of a patient, Serbian psychiatrist Ilija Jugović goes to Kosovo, under the punishment of the Party, and gets a job as a general practitioner in a local hospital. There he meets history professor Ljubo Božović, the self-proclaimed “Russian Consul,” a patient who claims that soon “Russia will become Russia again, and Kosovo will be Serbian again.” Powerful local Albanian separatists turn against Bozovic, but doctor Jugovic stands up for him. Only one Serbian film has ever advanced to the shortlist, 2007’s The Trap.
SLOVAKIA
Title: The Hungarian Dressmaker
Director: Iveta Grófová
Sales: Reason8 Films
Notes: An adaptation of the novella by Peter Krištúfek, the film is set in the late 1940s as the Slovak state witnesses the rise of nationalism. The turbulent social mood impacts the widow Marika, who loses her job in an Aryanised dressmaker’s shop. Given the increasing anti-Hungarian sentiment, she shuts herself away, particularly since she is also harboring a little Jewish boy. Despite this, she still finds herself singled out by two men: a German Nazi officer and a captain of Slovakia’s Hlinka Guard. Grófová’s sophomore Oscar submission world premiered at Karlovy Vary over the summer; Slovakia has never advanced to the shortlist.
SLOVENIA
Title: Family Therapy
Director: Sonja Prosenc
Sales: Monoo
Notes: In this black comedy, which world premiered in Tribeca this year, a nouveau riche family living in a literal glass house finds their life of detached superiority upended when the patriarch’s son from another relationship arrives at the family home, revealing cracks in their staid façade. Also playing the Sarajevo festival, the film won the Arthouse Cinema Award by the CICAE jury. Prosenc scores a hat trick here, representing Slovenia for the third time — if she advances to the shortlist it would be a first for the country.
SOUTH KOREA
Title: 12.12: The Day
Director: Kim Sung-su
U.S. Distributor: 815 Pictures/Netflix
Notes: This historical action film was the highest-grossing movie of 2023 in its home market, taking in over $86M. Set in December 1979, after the assassination of President Park, martial law has been declared in Seoul. A coup d’état bursts out by Defense Security Commander Chun Doo-gwang and a private band of officers following him. Capital Defense Commander Lee Tae-shin, an obstinate soldier who believes the military should not take political actions, fights against Chun. In the midst of chaos, the spring of Seoul that everyone longed for heads in an unexpected direction. Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 Parasite broke the Oscars spell for Korea, securing not only the first International Feature nomination and win for the sophisticated market, but also the Best Picture prize. Since then, there has been one film shortlisted in the International race, 2022’s Decision to Leave by Park Chan-wook.
SPAIN
Title: Saturn Return
Directors: Isaki Lacuesta & Pol Rodríguez
Sales: Latido Films
Notes: It’s the late 1990s, and Granada indie music group Los Planetas is about to record their third album. But with the band in turmoil, they find themselves on the brink of success…or total destruction. Can they come together against all odds or collapse in a ball of fire? Inspired by the story of one of the most popular Spanish bands of the ’90s, the movie won Best Film, Director and Editing at the Malaga Film Festival. Spain is one of the most nominated and winning countries at the Oscars with four statues in this category. It was most recently nominated for JA Bayona’s Society of the Snow at the 96th Academy Awards.
SWEDEN
Title: The Last Journey
Directors: Filip Hammar & Fredrik Wikingsson
Prod: Nexiko
Notes: When Lars Hammar retires after 40 years as a French teacher, he looks forward to a wonderful time filled with travel, wine and experiences with his wife Tiina. However, Lars becomes passive and apathetic, to the great frustration of Tiina and her son Filip. Then Filip gets a brilliant idea – to take his old father to France to relive the places that have meant the most to him. By recreating the family’s old car holidays, he hopes to reawaken his father’s spark of life. With the help of his best friend Fredrik, a large dose of optimism and creativity, as well as an old, orange Renault 4, the adventure begins. A smash in its home country, The Last Journey went on to become the highest-grossing documentary ever in the market. Sweden counts more than a dozen nominations in the International race, but only three films have ever won a trophy – each directed by the legendary Ingmar Bergman.
SWITZERLAND
Title: Reinas
Director: Klaudia Reynicke
U.S. Distribution: Outsider Pictures
Notes: The family drama is set in 1992 Peru as the country undergoes social and political upheaval. Against this backdrop Lucía and Aurora’s single mother Elena is drawing up plans to leave the country with her daughters. The decision sees the girls grow closer to their previously absent father, as the impending farewell from home and family draws ever nearer. Reinas world premiered in Sundance then played the Berlinale, where it won theGrand Prix of the Generation Kplus section before scooping the Audience Award in Locarno. It heads to the Mill Valley Festival in October.
TAIWAN
Title: Old Fox
Director: Hsiao Ya-chuan
U.S. Distributor: 815 Pictures
Notes: In 1989, a time in which Taiwanese society is experiencing rapid change, Liao Tai-Lai is a single father who works in a restaurant. He and his 11-year-old son Liao Jie, live together in a rental house and work hard to save money in the hope of buying a home of their own. Although socially disadvantaged, his father is a considerate man who is dedicated to his duties and strives to earn an honest living. One day, the boy meets his landlord, known as the “Old Fox.” The shopping mall tycoon sees the reflection of his own past in the boy and teaches him how to leverage inequality to succeed. A ruthless realist, Boss Xie’s approach to life begins to influence the boy’s mindset. Winner of the Best Narrative Feature prize at the Taipei Film Festival, Old Fox also took four Golden Horse awards. Taiwan has one Oscar, and another two nominations in this category — all for films made by Ang Lee.
TURKEY
Title: Hayat
Director: Zeki Demirkubuz
Sales: Basak Emre Pundurs
Notes: Hicran runs away from home when she is forced into an engagement with Rıza by her father. Rıza, who thinks that Hicran doesn’t want to be with him, doesn’t care at first. But when it begins to bother him, he decides to confront the situation and embarks on a long search for Hicran in Istanbul. This epic odyssey played Thessaloniki last year as well as having a berth at the Sofia International Film Festival. This is auteur Demirkubuz’s first time repping Turkey, only one film from the market has ever advanced to the shortlist.
UK
Title: Santosh
Director: Sandhya Suri
Sales: mk2 films
Notes: In rural Northern India, newly widowed Santosh inherits her late husband’s job as a police constable and becomes embroiled in the investigation of a young girl’s murder. Santosh debuted in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard this year and will play the London Film Festival in October; it won the award for Best International Debut at the Jerusalem fest. The UK doesn’t submit a film every year, but is coming off of its first win for last year’s The Zone of Interest.
UKRAINE
Title: La Palisiada
Director: Philip Sotnichenko
Sales: Reason8 Films
Notes: Set in 1996 Ukraine, five months before the moratorium on the death penalty, two old friends — a police detective and a forensic psychiatrist — investigate the murder of their colleague. This debut feature marks Sotnychenko’s first time repping Ukraine, although the film has had myriad festival play including Rotterdam, Goteborg, San Sebastian, Sarajevo and more. Ukraine has advanced to the shortlist just once, for last year’s 20 Days in Mariupol.
URUGUAY
Title: There is a Door There
Directors: Juan Ponce de Leon & Facundo Ponce de Leon
Sales: Mueca Films
Notes: A documentary portrait of the birth of a friendship between two men, while one helps the other to die. The acceptance of pain, the sense of humor and the commitment to family and friends, accompany the virtual chats between Fernando and Eric, who were unable to meet due to the pandemic. The doc world premiered last year at the Malaga Film Festival, and played San Sebastian among others. It was nominated for the Best Documentary prize by Spain’s Cinema Writers Circle. Uruguay scored an Oscar nomination its first time out, with 1992’s A Place in the World. However, as it was an Argentine film over which Uruguay exercised insufficient artistic control, it was removed from the ballot. There have been no advancements to the shortlist since.
VENEZUELA
Title: Children of Las Brisas
Director: Marianela Maldonado
U.S. Distributor: PBS
Notes: An observational documentary exploring the power of discipline and classical music as tools for survival, the film follows three Venezuelan children from the impoverished Las Brisas neighborhood, in their quest to become professional musicians within the ranks of the “El Sistema” music program. Throughout a decade, Edixon, Dissandra and Wuilly try to achieve a better future as they face the great challenges of the country’s dire situation. Maldonado’s film premiered at the Sheffield Doc Fest in 2022, then screened at NYC DOC among many other doc fests. Venezuela has advanced to the shortlist once, for 2014’s The Liberator, but has never scored a nomination.
