Oscar season is about to kick into high gear with fall festival season just around the corner. The deadline to submit international feature selections is Oct. 1, so look for a flurry of announcements in the next five weeks. The Oscars shortlists are revealed on Dec. 16, with 15 international films selected to be voted on by Academy members in all branches who commit to watch all 15 films. Oscar nominations will be revealed on Jan. 22.
Turkey was the first country out of the gate, selecting “One of Those Days When Hemme Dies.” The Czech Republic chose “I’m Not Everything I Want to Be,” while Switzerland selected “Late Shift.”
Palestine submitted historical drama “Palestine 36,” Ireland went with Ukrainian-language doc “Sanatorium,” Bulgaria selected modern folktale “Tarika,” and Thailand chose romantic ghost story “A Useful Ghost.” Germany selected intergenerational drama “Sound of Falling,” and Austria chose social satire “Peacock.”
Recently, Iceland chose family drama “The Love That Remains,” Sweden picked political thriller “Eagles of the Republic,” and Tunisia went with conflict drama “The Voice of Hind Rajab.”
Stay tuned for many more selections in the coming weeks and watch the trailers below.
The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia)
Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab” has been selected as the Tunisian candidate in the contest for the best international feature film Oscar at the 98th Academy Awards.
It world premieres in Venice Film Festival’s competition section and its North American premiere at Toronto in the Special Presentations strand.
The film is based on real events on Jan. 29, 2024, when Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A 6-year-old girl, Hind Rajab, is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her.
The film recreates this emergency as a narrative work using actual call recordings and scripted re-enactments based on first-hand testimonies and transcripts.
“The Voice of Hind Rajab” is produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha, Odessa Rae and James Wilson. The production companies are Mime Films and Tanit Films.
The U.S. sale is being handled by CAA Media Finance, while international sales are being led by The Party Film Sales.
Eagles of the Republic (Sweden)
Tarik Saleh’s political thriller “Eagles of the Republic” has been selected as Sweden’s entry in the best international feature film category of the Academy Awards.
The film, the final installment in Saleh’s “Cairo Trilogy,” after Sundance winner “The Nile Hilton Incident” and Cannes prize-winning “Cairo Conspiracy,” features Fares Fares as Egypt’s most celebrated actor, George Fahmy, who reluctantly agrees to star in a regime‑commissioned propaganda biopic – only to find himself caught in political machinations, including an illicit affair with a general’s wife.
“Eagles of the Republic” is produced by Linus Stöhr Torell (Unlimited Stories), Linda Mutawi and Johan Lindström (Apparaten), and Alexandre Mallet-Guy (Memento Production). The project is co-produced by SVT, Film i Väst, and others, with development backed by the Swedish Film Institute.
The film had its world premiere at the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival. It will next play at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Love That Remains (Iceland)
The Icelandic Film and TV Academy has selected Hlynur Pálmason‘s “The Love That Remains” as Iceland’s entry in the best international feature film category of the Academy Awards.
The film, which had its world premiere in Cannes’ Premiere section, captures a year in the life of a family as the parents navigate their separation.
The cast includes Saga Garðarsdóttir, Sverrir Guðnason, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Þorgils Hlynsson, Grímur Hlynsson, Ingvar Sigurðsson and Anders Mossling.
The film is produced by Anton Máni Svansson for Still Vivid in Iceland, with Katrin Pors for Snowglobe in Denmark.
New Europe Film Sales handles international sales. North American rights for the film are with Janus Films.
Papa Buka (Papua New Guinea)
Papua New Guinea has selected “Papa Buka” as its inaugural submission to the Academy Awards, marking the first time the Pacific nation has entered the international feature film category at the Oscars.
Directed by internationally acclaimed Indian filmmaker Bijukumar Damodaran (Shanghai winner “Trees Under the Sun”), “Papa Buka” follows aging war veteran Papa Buka as he guides two Indian historians uncovering untold WWII stories connecting India and Papua New Guinea through shared sacrifice and humanity.
The Papua New Guinea-India co-production brings together producers Noelene Taula Wunum (NAFA Productions), Akshaykumar Parija (Akshay Parija Productions), Pa Ranjith (Neelam Productions), and Prakash Bare (Silicon Media).
Leading the ensemble cast is 85-year-old tribal leader Sine Boboro from Papua New Guinea, alongside Indian actors Ritabhari Chakraborty and Prakash Bare. The supporting cast includes John Sike, Barbara Anatu, Jacob Oburi, Sandra Dauma, and Max Maso PPC.
Peacock (Austria)
Austria has selected Bernhard Wenger‘s social satire “Peacock” as its entry in the Best International Feature Film category of the 98th Academy Awards.
“Peacock” had its world premiere in Venice Critics’ Week last year, and MK2 sold it to more than 40 countries. It will be released in U.S. theaters on Sept. 19 by Oscilloscope.
The film stars Albrecht Schuch, who was BAFTA nominated for “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
“Peacock” centers on the cultured and confident Matthias, who is available – for a reasonable fee – to fill any social role you desire, from “the perfect son” to the “enlightened boyfriend,” or even “pilot dad” to impress your classmates on Bring Your Parent to School Day. But while Matthias is at the top of his game professionally, his personal life begins to crumble as he detaches from his own identity and burrows deeper into his fictitious lives.
Sound of Falling (Germany)
Germany has selected Mascha Schilinski’s intergenerational drama “Sound of Falling,” which won the Cannes Jury Prize, as its entry in the Best International Feature Film category of the 98th Academy Awards.
“Sound of Falling” is set in a secluded farmstead in Germany’s Altmark region. For over a century, the walls have breathed the lives of the people who live here, their tastes, their existence in time.
The film tells the story of four women from different eras – Alma (1910s), Erika (1940s), Angelika (1980s) and Nelly (2020s) – whose lives are eerily intertwined. Each of them experiences their childhood or youth on this farm, but as they roam through their own present, traces of the past – unspoken fears, repressed traumas, buried secrets – reveal themselves to them.
Alma discovers that she was named after her deceased sister and believes she must follow the same fate. Erika loses herself in a dangerous fascination with her disabled uncle. Angelika balances between a death wish and a lust for life, trapped in a fragile family system. And finally there’s Nelly, growing up in apparent security, who is haunted by intense dreams and the unconscious burden of the past. When a tragic event repeats itself on the farm, the boundaries between past and present begin to blur.
The film was produced by Maren Schmitt, Lucas Schmidt and Lasse Scharpen for Studio Zentral. MK2 is handling international sales.
A Useful Ghost (Thailand)
Thailand has selected “A Useful Ghost” (Pee Chai Dai Ka) as its submission for the international feature film category at the 98th Academy Awards, the country’s National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations has revealed.
It debuted at the Cannes Critics’ Week earlier this year, where it won the grand prize.
Directed by debutant Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, “A Useful Ghost” follows March, who is mourning his wife Nat after she dies from dust pollution. When her spirit returns by possessing a vacuum cleaner, their unconventional human-ghost relationship faces resistance from his family. To prove her worth and their love, Nat offers to cleanse a factory haunted by the ghost of a worker whose death shut down operations. The film ingeniously reimagines the ghost story as a satirical romantic comedy, a deliberate departure from Thailand’s renowned horror cinema traditions.
Read the Variety review here.
Tarika (Bulgaria)
Bulgaria has selected Milko Lazarov’s “Tarika,” which had its world premiere at the London Film Festival, as its submission for the International Feature Film category of the Oscars.
The film centers on Ali and his daughter Tarika, who live peacefully, but isolated, from their community in rural Bulgaria. Tarika has started developing “butterfly wings,” a bone condition she inherited from her mother and which for a long time has been a source of superstition in the village. Ali rejects invasive procedures and will do anything to protect his daughter when their village’s intolerance turns dangerous.
The sales company is Films Boutique.
Sanatorium (Ireland)
The Irish-made, Ukrainian-language doc “Sanatorium” is set to represent Ireland at the Oscars.
The feature debut of Galway-born filmmaker Gar O’Rourke, “Sanatorium” takes a look inside the Kuyalnik Sanatorium, a large 1970s building near Odessa in southern Ukraine, where a small group searches for love, healing and happiness and where mud treatments and Soviet-era therapies continue despite a war close by. The film had its world premiere at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen in their main international competition, DOX:AWARD.
“Sanatorium” — which comes a year after the Irish-language music biopic “Kneecap” made the Oscars shortlist for Ireland — is produced by Venom Films by IFTA-winning Ken Wardrop and Andrew Freedman (“His & Hers,” “Making the Grade”), along with Samantha Corr. It was was co-produced by 2332 Films Ukraine and made with support from Screen Ireland, BBC Storyville, MetFilm Sales, France TV, and Creative Europe.
Palestine 36 (Palestine)
Annemarie Jacir’s drama “Palestine 36,” which reconstructs the Palestinian revolt against British colonial rule in 1936, has been picked as Palestine’s official entry for Palestine for the Oscars‘ international feature film race.
The selection of the timely film, which will soon premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, was made by an independent committee of Palestinian film professionals and confirmed by the Palestinian Ministry of Culture.
“Palestine 36” follows a young man named Yusuf who gets caught up in political upheaval as tensions rise in Jerusalem and his village amid British crackdowns prompted by the arrival of Jewish immigrants escaping antisemitism in Europe. The hot-button epic features a high-profile cast comprising Jeremy Irons as a colonial commissioner, Hiam Abbas (“Succession”), Liam Cunningham and Saleh Bakri (“The Teacher”).
I’m Not Everything I Want to Be (Czech Republic)
The Czech Republic has selected Klára Tasovská’s documentary feature “I’m Not Everything I Want to Be” as its submission for the International Feature Film category of the Oscars following a controversial contest.
The documentary follows the life of photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková, drawing on her diaries and thousands of photographs. It depicts the underground movement in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s as well as her dramatic escape to West Berlin, and fashion shoots in Tokyo. The film had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival last year and was awarded the Czech Lion for the best documentary feature this year.
Late Shift (Switzerland)
Petra Volpe’s “Late Shift” is Switzerland’s official entry for the International Feature Film category for the Academy Awards.
TrustNordisk is handling international rights on the film, which stars Leonie Benesch, who previously appeared in the Oscar-nominated drama “The Teachers’ Lounge” in 2023, and Oscar-nominated drama “September 5” last year. Music Box has acquired North American rights.
“Late Shift” follows a nurse, Floria, as she navigates the relentless pace on a surgical ward with unwavering dedication, infusing humanity and warmth into her patient care even though the shift is understaffed. As the day intensifies, the film transforms into a gripping race against time, culminating in a riveting climax.
Read Variety‘s review here.
One of Those Days When Hemme Dies (Turkey)
Turkey has announced that first-time director Murat Firatoğlu’s “One of Those Days When Hemme Dies” has been selected as the country’s entry for the Academy Awards’ international feature film category.
“One of Those Days When Hemme Dies” was selected from 14 submissions by Turkey’s Oscar committee, comprising representatives from professional associations in the country’s film industry that operates under the Directorate General of Cinema.
The film is a tale of class-based rage and rebellion through the justice-seeking journey of a farmworker named Eyüp who works relentlessly under the blazing sun during a tomato harvest in southeastern Turkey, driven by the urgent need to settle an impending debt. After a clash with his supervisor, he roams the city in search of a radical solution.
“One of Those Days When Hemme Dies” world premiered last year at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the special jury prize in the event’s Orizzonti (Horizons) section.
