International Oscar Race Pt 3: More than you need to know about the directors!
Thursday, January 14, 2021 at 3:45PM by Nathaniel R
In past years we've broken the International Feature Oscar category down into lots of different articles but we should probably calm down. So herewith the lists we usually provide in several articles in a more condensed all-in-one format! 93 films are competing for the nomination in this category. Given the field, consider this a year for fresh voices. Only eight countries (Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Iran, Italy, Mongolia, North Macedonia, Russia) chose directors who have previously helmed Oscar-nominated or finalist films. Since we've already covered the previously Oscar-honored directors, let's look at the others.
We'll divvy it up into three categories: debuts, female directors, and the rest of the field.
THE DEBUT DIRECTORS LIST
Amjad Abu Alala (You Will Die at 20 for Sudan)
Sudan's first-ever Oscar submission comes from a first-time director. He previously worked as a producer.
Shahad Ameen (Scales for Saudi Arabia)
Though IMDb lists Scales as her second feature, they have zero info about the first so we'll trust Variety who calls this a debut feature. It's a film that draws on Arabic folklore to tell the story of a rebellious young woman and a tradition of sacrificing female children to monstrous mermaids lurking in the sea.
Alaa Eddine Aljem (The Unknown Saint for Morocco)
He's 32 years old and previously wrote, directed and edited one documentary short and produced two documentary features. The Unknown Saint is his directorial feature debut.
Gregor Bozic (Stories from the Chestnut Moon for Slovenia)
The 36 year-old previously directed two shorts. For his directorial feature debut he also serves as screenwriter and editor.
Mamadou Dia (Nafi's Father from Senegal)
He's previously made a few shorts and shot movies for other directors but this is a debut feature. He got his MFA at Tisch here in NYC a few years back. This film received the Best First Feature prize at Locarno.
Dzintars Dreibergs (Blizzard of Souls/The Rifleman for Latvia)
While he's previously made 3 documentaries this is the narrative feature debut for the 39 year-old Latvian. This war drama was a true blockbuster at home in Latvia.
Emir Ezwan (Soul/Roh for Malaysia)
Ezwan had worked on a couple films as a visual effects artist before calling the shots on this horror film.
Hugo Gimenez (Killing the Dead for Paraguay)
Age unknown. He previously made one documentary prior to this narrative debut.
Karolis Kaupinis (Nova Lituania or Lithuania)
A debut film from a 33 year-old filmmaker. Nova Lithuania played several fests including Karlovy and won the top prize at the Athens Film Festival.
Jimmy Keyrouz (Broken Keys for Lebanon)
A debut feature from this 32 year-old who was previously honored with three major student film awards (Academy Award, BAFTA, DGA) for his 2016 short Nocturne in Black. That same short made the finalist list for the Oscars in Live Action Short but wasn't nominated.
Ulrike Kofler (What We Wanted for Austria)
This 46 year-old was previously an editor on features, docs, and shorts. The marital drama What We Wanted, currently streaming on Netflix, is her writing/directing debut.
Dea Kulumbegashvili (Beginning for Georgia)
Her two previous shorts Ukhilavi Sivrtseebi (2014) and Léthé (2016) had successful festival runs including appearances at Cannes. This 34 year-old's feature debut has been racking up festival prizes and arrives Jan 29th to stream on MUBI. [Reviewed]
Maia Lekow and Chris King (The Letter for Kenya)
This documentary about a man in rural Kenya confronting allegations against his Grandma is the debut directorial effort for this married couple (ages unknown). Lekow is a native Kenyan. King is originally from Australia though he's lived in Kenya for over a decade. [Reviewed]
Melina León (Song Without a Name for Peru)
She had previously made shorts but this, her feature debut, played at Cannes where it was well-received. It's currently available to rent online.
Filippo Meneghetti (Two of Us for France)
Age unknown. He had previously made shorts and one documentary feature but this is his narrative feature debut. It's won strong reviews, some calling it a new queer classic. Two of Us will be released in theaters and on demand on February 5th.
Diego Mondaca (Chaco for Bolivia)
This 40 year old filmmaker previously worked in documentary. Chaco, a war drama, marks his narrative feature debut.
Ameen Nayfeh (200 Meters for Jordan)
Age unknown. Another first feature.
Arman Nshanian (Song of Solomon for Armenia)
An actor/producer (age unknown) making his directorial debut.
Christos Nikou (Apples for Greece)
The 36 year old filmmaker was previously an Assistant Director on multiple features before calling on the shots on this Greek amnesia drama.
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Luis Franco Brantley and Luis Pacheco (Operation Just Cause for Panama)
Ages unknown. Brantley previously directed a segment of one feature and worked in various capacities on documentary shorts. Pacheco had previously produced several features and serves as this film's co-director, editor, and producer.
Florenc Papas (Open Door for Albania)
He's the youngest director in competition this year at just 29. When he was in his early 20s he edited a feature film. He's already at work on his second feature due in 2021.
Anne Paulicevich (Working Girls for Belgium)
This actress/writer makes her directorial debut alongside veteran filmmaker Frédéric Fonteyne (who made the brilliant An Affair of Love among other films). In addition to co-directing this film about sex workers, she also wrote the screenplay.
Bárbara Paz (Babenco: Tell Me When I Die for Brazil)
The 46 year old widow of the director Hector Babenco has made a documentary about the last years of his life. It's her first feature film behind the camera though she has had an extensive career as an actress and has also previously directed a docu series on TV. Her documentary is currently available on MUBI.
Ruth Pribar (Asia for Israel)
This 38 year-old director previously worked on several short films. Her debut full-length feature, Asia, won Best Film at the Ophir Awards in Israel. [Reviewed]
Sofia Quiros (Land of Ashes for Costa Rica)
She's just 31 years old and after three shorts, she's graduated to features with this story about a 13 year old girl and her dying grandfather.
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Tom Sullivan (Arrarcht/Monster for Ireland)
Sullivan has writen and directed shorts and TV and previously worked as an actor on several movies and TV shows.
Ivan Tai-Apin (Wiren for Suriname)
This 43 year-old directed his first feature with Wiren and it has the honor of being his country's first ever Oscar submission.
Paúl Venegas (Emptiness for Ecuador)
Age Unknown. He previously co-directed one documentary before this narrative debut.
MORE FEMALE DIRECTORS
(i.e. those not previously cited under "debuts", see the list above, or the two previously Oscar-nominated filmmakers Byambasuren Davaa and Agnieska Holland who have already been discussed in an earlier article. This race is now the all time record for the most female directors submitted)
Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent for Chile)
The 37 year-old's sixth documentary feature is the first doc ever submitted by Chile to the Oscar race. There are a record number of documentary submissions this year (seven) despite that fact that it's not a documentary-specific category.
Zaida Bergroth (Tove for Finland)
This biopic about the famous bisexual children's book author is the Finnish director's fifth feature.
Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond (My Little Sister for Switzerland)
This sibling cancer drama is the second feature from this 49 year-old directorial duo. [Reviewed]
Kristina Grozeva (The Father for Bulgaria)
This 44 year-old is co-directing with frequent collaborator, 38 year-old Petar Valchanov. This film, which co-stars Borat's breakout actress Maria Bakalova, is not to be confused with the Oscar hopeful of the same title from the UK that stars Sir Anthony Hopkins OR Fathers from Cambodia OR Nafi's Father from Senegal. (There are lots of "Fathers" in this year's Oscar consideration pool.)
Kaouther Ben Hania (The Man Who Sold His Skin for Tunisia)
With this feature 43 year-old Hania becomes the first director to be submitted twice by Tunisia. She was previously submitted two years ago for Beauty and the Dogs.
Silja Hauksdóttir (Agnes Joy for Iceland)
Agnes Joy is the second feature film for this 44 year-old who usually works in television (and has also done production and location management for UK and US productions shooting in Iceland like Interstellar and Walter Mitty). Lots of international productions shoot in Iceland due to the incredible scenery.
Paula Hernández (Sleepwalkers for Argentina)
This is the fifth feature from this 51 year-old director.
Lili Horvát (Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time for Hungary)
The second feature from this 38 year-old filmmaker. She's also worked on shorts, documentaries, and as a casting director on a TV series.
Leticia Jorge (Aleli for Uruguay)
This is the second feature for this 39 year-old talent. It's currently streaming on Netflix.
Naomi Kawase (True Mothers for Japan)
This is the 51 year-old festival favourite's 12th feature. Despite her critical reknown this is actually the first time Japan has submitted one of her films.
Amanda Kernell (Charter for Sweden)
This 34 year-old's debut Sami Blood was very acclaimed at festivals when she was just 30. Now her second feature is submitted for an Oscar.
Marina Kunarova (The Crying Steppe for Kazakhstan)
This is the third feature for this 47 year-old talent.
Marija Perovic (Breasts for Montenegro)
This drama about a high school reunion where one member of a group of friends reveals she has breast cancer, is the 48 year-old director's third feature film. She also teaches Film and TV directing in Montenegro.
Anabel Rodrígues Ríos (Once Upon a Time in Venezuela for Venezuela)
Age unknown. While this is her first documentary she previously co-directed a narrative feature. [Reviewed]
Rene van Rooyen (Toorbos for South Africa)
This is her second feature (age unknown). She's also directed three television series.
Julie Schroell (River Tales for Luxembourg)
Her second documentary feature.
Maria Sødahl (Hope for Norway)
Hope is the fourth feature from this 55 year-old director. She is married to another director, Hans Petter Moland, who was submitted by Norway just last year for his period drama Out Stealing Horses. In other words, the couple is having quite a time at the moment with honors!
Malgorzata Szumowska (Never Gonna Snow Again from Poland)
This is the ninth feature from this 47 year-old Polish director, here co-directing for the first time with Michal Englert who's been on screenplay and cinematography duties on some of her earlier films. Szumowska has been a favourite of Berlinale for several years winning prizes for three previous features: the gay priest drama In the Name of (2013), and the dramedies Body (2015) and Mug (2018). Her latest is very good so we hope the US release comes swiftly.
Leticia Tonos (A State of Madness from the Dominican Republic)
This is her fourth feature from the London trained filmmaker from Santo Domingo. In addition to directing she's produced several features.
Julia von Heinz (And Tomorrow the Entire World for Germany)
This 44 year-old filmmaker's fifth feature played in Venice this past summer. She doesn't have much of an international profile yet but this film about antifascists investigating local Neo-Nazi members could raise it.
Jasmila Žbanić (Quo Vadis, Aida? for Bosnia and Herzegovina)
This is the fifth narrative feature (from six films) from this 46 year-old writer/director from Sarajevo. She also directed segments of three other features that employed multiple directors. Her most famous previous picture was her debut, Grbavica: Land of My Dreams (2006)
AND THE REST OF THE DIRECTORS...
This category is always jam-packed with global talent
Mirlan Abdykalykov (Running to the Sky for Kyrgyzstan)
This is the second feature of this 38 year-old director. His debut feature Heavenly Nomad (2015) was also submitted by Kyrgyzstan.
Predrag Antonijevic (Dara in Jasenovca for Serbia)
61 years-old. Ninth feature.
Joko Anwar (Impetigore for Indonesia)
44 year old. Eighth feature. It's currently streaming on Shudder.
Peter Bebjak (The Auschwitz Report for Slovakia)
50 year-old. Sixth feature. He also frequently directs TV series in Slovakia. His best known feature internationally is The Line (2017) which won him best director at Karlovy and at home in Slovakia and was also submitted for the Oscars.
Jayro Bustamante (La Llorona for Guatemala)
44 year-old director. This is his third feature. His debut, Ixcanul (2015) became a critical breakout at festivals and was also an Oscar submission for Guatemala. His second Temblores/Tremors (2019) was also an award winner at festivals. His latest recently won the BSFC prize for Best Non-English Language Feature and is currently available to rent online. [Reviewed]
Peter Ho-Sun Chan (Leap for China)
Leap is the 17th feature from this prolific 58 year-old Hong Kong based director. He also writes and produces. His most famous previous pictures are arguably the beautiful Comrades: A Love Story (1996) starring Maggie Cheung and action film The Warlords (2007) starring Jet Li, Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro.
Anthony Chen (Wet Season for Singapore)
This 36 year old's debut film, Ilo Ilo, was a major success at festivals and in Asian film awards in 2013. His follow up is available for rent online.
Chung Mong-hong (A Sun for Taiwan)
This fiftysomething director's fifth feature has proved quite succcessful, winning him his second Best Director at the Golden Horse Awards after his first for The Fourth Portrait (2010). He is also an award winning cinematographer, shooting Taiwan's recent submission The Great Buddha+ (2017)
Pedro Costa (Vitalina Varela for Portugal)
Cláudio wrote about his career here. Despite being a famous Portuguese auteur he has only been submitted once previously, for his debut feature Blood (O Sangue) in 1991. Vitalina Varela is his 7th full length feature.
Jean-Philippe Duval (14 Days, 12 Nights for Canada)
The 52 year old writer/director has made six features. His second film Matroni and I (1999) netted him a Genie nomination for writing.
Tamar Ezzat (When We're Born for Egypt)
Age unknown. He began his career as a stage actor. This musical drama is his second feature.
Fernando Frias (I'm No Longer Here for Mexico)
Age unknown. Second narrative feature and he's also directed two documentary features. I'm No Longer Here won him the Best Director Ariel Award in his home country and is currently streaming on Netflix.
Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño, Jose Mari Goenaga (Endless Trench for Spain)
Garano (46) and Goenaga (44) previously directed the Spanish submission Flowers (2014) together. They have a third frequent collaborator in Arregi (43) who previously co-directed The Giant (2017) with Garano. Endless Trench is currently streaming on Netflix.
Eché Janga
Eché Janga (Buladó for The Netherlands)
42 year-old director. This is his second film.
Enah Johnscott (The Fisherman's Diary for Cameroon)
38 year old director. This is his second feature.
Sarmad Sultan Khoosat (Zindagi Tamasha/Circus of Life for Pakistan)
41 year old director. Second feature. He works primarily in television. He also acts occassionally on TV.
Philippe Lacôte (Night of the Kings for Ivory Coast)
51 year-old writer/director. This is his third feature and it played at NYFF this year to strong reviews. His second feature, Run, was also Oscar submitted in its year. [Reviewed]
Brillante Mendoza (Mindanao for The Phillipines)
The Cannes-winning 60 year-old director is The Philippines internationally best known auteur, give or take Lav Diaz. He was previously Oscar-submitted for Mama Rosa.
Visar Morina (Exile for Kosovo)
41 year-old writer/director. This is his second feature.
Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese (This is Not a Burial... for Lesotho)
This is the sophomore feature for this 40 year-old director. It's the first submission ever from his home country and the buzz on it is quite strong.
Alexander Nanau (Collective for Romania)
This is the fifth documentary feature from this acclaimed 41 year old director. This doc, which hopes to repeat Honeyland's trick last season of a double nomination in both Documentary and International Feature categories, is available to rent online. [Reviewed]
Tarzan and Arab Nasser (Gaza Mon Amour for Palestine)
32 year-old twin brother directors! This is their sophomore feature. [Reviewed]
Veiko Õunpuu (The Last Ones for Estonia)
The sixth movie from 48 year-old director of reportedly slow burn eccentric movies. Estonia has now submitted his films three times though he's yet to be nominated.
Desmond Obvbiagele (The Milkmaid for Nigeria)
This is his second feature. He previously directed a film called Render to Caesar (2014). After the controversy when the Academy disqualified two entries focused on Nigerians in the same year (one from Austria one from Nigeria itself) they have changed their rules to allow for Pidgin English. This particular film, though, is in Hausa, a lingua-franca spoken in a lot of inland West African countries. (This language was also heard in a quality submission from Niger in 2018 called The Wedding Ring)
Mehmet Ada Öztekin (Miracle in Cell 7 for Turkey)
This is the 44 year-old director's fourth feature. It's a remake of a popular South Korean feature from 2013. His version is currently streaming on Netflix.
Lijo Jose Pellissery (Jalikkatu for India)
This is the 7th feature from this 42 year-old director. India often goes with Bollywood entries but this time they've chosen something from Malayalam Cinema ("Mollywood"), one of their regional cinemas. It's currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
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Jose Luis Sanchez (Looking for Casal for Cuba)
This biopic of a famous writer is the third narrative feature for this 60 year old director who is mostly known for documentary work.
Derek Tsang (Better Days for Hong Kong)
This is the fourth feature behind the camera for this 41 year old actor/director. His film is available to rent online.
Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (Happy Old Year for Thailand)
This is the sixth narrative feature (and 8th feature overall) from this prolific 36 year old director who has only been making films since 2012. It's currently streaming on Netflix.
Valentyn Vasyanovych (Atlantis for Ukraine)
This is the fourth feature for this 49 year-old director.
Ivan-Goran Vitez (Extracurricular for Croatia)
45 year-old director. This is his third feature.
Victor Vu (Dreamy Eyes for Vietnam)
A prolific 45 year old Vietnamese-American director (born in North Hollywood). This is his 14th feature and his second film selected to represent Vietnam at the Oscars (he was first submitted in 2016 for Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass). He is only the second director to be submitted multiple times by Vietnam. The only other is Tran Anh Hung who directed Vietnam's only Oscar-nominated film The Scent of Green Papaya.
Woo Min-ho (The Man Standing Next for South Korea)
This is the fifth feature for this award winning director who turns 50 this year and a reunion with his leading actor Byung-hun Lee who starred in his most acclaimed previous feature, Inside Men.
Huy Yaleng (Fathers for Cambodia)
This is the 5th feature from this 42 year old director who also co-stars in his movies.
MORE DIRECTOR-RELATED STATS
Youngest* directors submitted:
- Florenc Papa (29) for Albania
- Sofia Quinos (31) for Costa Rica
- [TIE] (32 years of age) Jimmy Keyrouz for Lebanon and twin directors Tarzan & Arab Nasser for Palestine.
Oldest* directors submitted:
- Andrey Konchalovskiy for Russia (83)
- Agnieszka Holland for Czech Republic (71)
- Pedro Costa for Portugal (62)
Directors with most previous submissions (most of whom have been honored already in this category):
- Majid Majidi (Iran) is enjoying his sixth submission
- [TIE] with four submissions each: Agniezska Holland (Czech Republic/Germany/Poland) and Milcho Manchevski (Macedonia)
- [TIE] with three submissions each: Byambasureen Davaa (Mongolia), Andrey Konchalovskiy (Russia), Thomas Vinterberg (Denmark) and Veiko Õunpuu (Estonia).
Percentage of submissions that are debuts: 30* of 93 films or 32% of the movies
Percentage of submissions from female directors: 34* of 93 films or 36% of the movies.
* Both the Bangladesh and the Honduras films have multiple directors (11 and 6 respectively) . We included them in the debut stats due to "emerging filmmakers" and in the number of female directed films since a couple of the Bangladeshi directors and one of the Honduran directors are women. None of these 17 directors have profiles above and are not listed in the age states since there wasn't info available on all of them.
Reader Comments (13)
Great (extensive) work to summarize all these talents around the world, but I feel the obligation to say that Bárbara Paz is not just “Babenco’s widow”, she’s also a great actress, with extensive work on cinema, TV and stage (long before she married Babenco). Maybe IMDb (or other sources in English) don’t provide much information about her, but I can’t stand a strong female talent being erased by a male figure.
Antonio - duly noted and I'll add a sentence... though i should state up front that i dont feel it's erasure to call her his widow since the photo is of her and her directorial debut is literally about her late husband.
Is it just me, or do interesting looking people tend to make interesting films? Almost every one of these filmmakers has an affect or expression that would make me want to stop and have a conversation with them, not knowing who they are, if I saw them in an airport or something.
Nathaniel - I understand your point, but as she’s not well known outside Brazil, seems fair to present her to international audiences as much more than just a widow who made a doc about her late husband, the great Hector Babenco. This is just not about Bárbara, it’s about all women overshadowed by famous men they eventually marry or date. Thank you for the sentence added.
Thanks Nathaniel for the time you take to do an impressive search work. I'm gonna take note about some authors.
What a great lineup and I must say, big ups to you, Nathaniel, for passionately putting this together. I love it and please know that at least one person truly appreciates this compilation. This is the only site that brings international films together in such a reader-friendly way and also being 'briefly comprehensive' (I know it's an oxymoron but it's true).
I like it that the directors I admire, respect, and sometimes love are also the elder in the group: Konchalovsky, Holland, and Costa. I have yet to see Dear Comrades but I thought Holland and Costa's films were outstanding. Especially Costa whose film oeuvre I will dig and watch this year even if I have to learn Portuguese on my own to get into the films' culture-specific spirit and true colors.
Tarzan and Arab Nasser's goth looks made me want to hang out with them and know more about Palestine -- a place I visited briefly 5 years ago. This year is such a bumper year of international films that (finally) crossed their national borders. If it's because of the pandemic, then I hope this will be the start of great things to come. I always feel that the submitted films of countries to the Academy are images they want to project of their multiple cultures and I often wonder if the ones that didn't make it may resonate more strongly had they been given the same privilege as other (usually much-heralded) films from (usually known) directors.
My top list of films I want to see remained the same (Apples, Dear Comrades, Gaza Mon Amour but now I have such a long list of must-sees from the list that Nathaniel compiled above. I guess if I watch at least one film a day/night then I might get to see them all before the year ends. I am not sure my wife will be on the same page though.
Nathaniel, Please don't ever feel you need to calm down when it comes to this category. Your coverage of it is the best there is and I for one can't get enough of it!
For the films I've seen, their directors somehow have the looks of their films if they became human.
Hi Nathaniel,
Great work as always....You’ve made one humorous error. Try saying the names of the “two” Irish directors out loud. You’ll soon realize there’s only one. :)
Wow, must've taken ages finding all these. Well done.
I've just seen Dear Comrades! At this point I can't see how it misses a nomination.
A.D. that is funny. i blame IMDb who lists him twice ;)
Ian -- that's funny. i can see it some cases.
Thank you for this list.
@Dan Humphrey : I totally agree. Seeing these directors' faces and their films, it reminds you the world is a beautiful place :)
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