Finland has chosen its Oscar submission this year.
They've gone with the acclaimed black and white boxing drama The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki which is about a featherweight championship match between American and Finnish boxers in 1962.
That film is also in the finalist list for the European Film Awards. Nominations for the EFAs will be announced on November 5th. The EFA ceremony changes location each year and this year it will be held in Poland on December 10th. Because of competing eligibility dates you'll notice that each year's EFA list contains films from different Oscar seasons. The list of their finalists for 2016 is after the jump...
Almodóvar with this "Julieta" stars. Yes, they're on the list.
EFA FINALISTS
Nominations November 5th. Ceremony December 10th. (Last year's ceremony was Youth crazy with 3 awards for Paolo Sorrention's Italian film with British and American stars...) If we've written about the film below its in bold - some of these titles are at TIFF this year so there's definitely more to come once we see them.
- 24 Weeks (Germany)
- A Man Called Ove (Sweden's Oscar submission)
- A War (Denmark's Oscar nominee last season)
- Being 17 (France)
- Beyond the Mountains and the Hills (a finalist for Israel's Oscar submission)
- Chevalier (Greece)
- Dawn (Latvia, Poland, Estonia)
- Death in Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina's Oscar submission)
- Don't Be Bad (Italy's Oscar submission last season)
- Elle (France)
- Florence Foster Jenkins (UK)
- Frenzy (Turkey, France, Qatar)
- Graduation (Romania)
- I, Daniel Blake (Palme D'or winner, UK)
- I, Olga Hepnarova (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, France)
- Julieta (a finalist for Spain's Oscar submission)
- Kills on Wheels (Hungary's Oscar submission)
- Köpek (Switzerland)
- Land of Mine (a finalist for Denmark's Oscar submission)
- Letters from War (Portugal)
- Like Crazy (Italy, France)
- Lost in Munich (Czech Republic)
- Mammal (Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands)
- Mimosas (Spain, Morocco, France, Qatar)
- On the Other Side (Croatia's Oscar Submission)
- One of Us (Austria)
- Perfect Strangers (Italy)
- Pyromanic (a finalist for Norway's Oscar submission)
- Rauf (Turkey)
- Room (Ireland, Canada - Best Picture nominee last season)
- Sieranevada (Romania's Oscar submission)
- Song of Songs (Ukraine)
- Sparrows (Iceland -a finalist for Oscar submission last year but they chose Rams)
- Strange Heaven (Poland, Sweden)
- Suffragette (UK)
- Suntan (Greece, Germany)
- The Ardennes (Belgium's Oscar Submission)
- The Commune (a finalist for Denmark's Oscar submission)
- The Happiest Days in the Life of Olli Mäki (Finland's Oscar submission)
- The Lure (Poland)
- The Olive Tree (a finalist for Spain's Oscar submission)
- The Paradise Suite (Netherland's Oscar submission last season)
- The People vs Fritz Bauer (Germany)
- The Student (Russian Federation)
- The Unknown Girl (Belgium, France)
- Things to Come/L'Avenir (France)
- Tikkun (Israel)
- Toni Erdmann (Germany's Oscar submission)
- Truman (Spain, Argentina)
- United States of Love (Poland, Sweden)
Who are you rooting for at this very early date? Which of these films are you eager to see?