7 More Films (Some Surprises) Join the International Oscar Race
Friday, September 22, 2023 at 10:00PM by Nathaniel R
While Denmark and Germany have been Oscar's two favourite countries in the past 20 or so years, they weren't always the biggest draws. Four traditionally powerhouse countries in the International Oscar Race -- France, Italy, Sweden, and Spain -- haven't had as much consistent pull of late but underestimate them at your own peril. All four have now announced their horses for the Oscars so it's an exciting week for news in this category. And they weren't the only countries to share their golden news this week. The charts are updated but let's talk about 7 of the new submissions...
FRANCE (37 noms, 9 wins, 3 honoraries, and 4 finalists from 68 submissions)
In a mild i.e. not that actually shocking surprise, France has chosen to submit Tran Anh Hung's acclaimed romantic drama The Taste of Things rather than the Palme d'Or winner, Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall. Tran Anh Hung's most famous film stateside is Vietnam's only Oscar nominee The Scent of Green Papaya (1993) and we could definitely picture this new costume drama about a famous chef (Benoît Magimel) and his lover/employee (Juliette Binoche) granting him a second trip to the Oscars. Countries with robust film industries like France often face these Sophie's Choice decisions; either film would have made a strong Oscar contender so now the Palme d'Or winner will have to settle for potentially competing in other categories like Best Actress and Best Screenplay. That could even give it a boost in those other categories as has happened to many 'snubbed' subtitled hits before it.
SPAIN (20 noms, 4 wins, and 3 finalists from 66 submissions)
In another mild surprise Spain has submitted J.A. Bayona's Society of the Snow rather than the long awaited comeback of 83 year old auteur Victor Erice (of The Spirit of the Beehive fame) with Close Your Eyes. J.A. Bayona was submitted once before for The Orphanage (2007) and he's also directed a Best Actress nominee (Naomi Watts in The Impossible). Society of the Snow is a survival thriller about a rugby team that crashes on a glacier in the Andes.
ITALY (28 noms, 11 wins, 3 honoraries, and 1 finalist from 67 submissions)
Italy is going with a Venice prize winner Io Capitano by Matteo Garrone (of Gomorrah fame) over films like Marco Bellochio's Kidnapped (which Cláudio believed would have been nominated) or Nanni Moretti's A Brighter Tomorrow (which Elisa reviewed at Cannes). The film has been called by three different titles in the English press -- Me Captain, Io Capitano, and The Captain -- so who knows what it will be called upon release! It's about about two young men from Dakar who leave for Europe.
Though Italy isn't nominated as often as France, they win more often so you always have to "Consider" their contenders.
SWEDEN (16 noms, 3 wins, and 4 finalists from 63 submissions)
Sweden is going with The Opponent as we suspected they would. Lately the Scandinavian countries have semi-frequently been submitting films reflecting the experiences of their growing immigrant populations. This one, from Swedish-Iranian director Milad Alami is about an Iranian husband that joins a local wrestling club after fleeing to Sweden. Payman Maadi (from the Oscar-winning A Separation) stars.
NORWAY (6 noms and 2 finalists from 45 submissions)
Norway had their hottest contender ever two years ago with The Worst Person In the World (2021) which might have won in a year without one of those occassional subtitled films that becomes a sensation and also lands in the Best Picture race. Much to our surprise, Norway has chosen the finalist that we thought was the least likely to be selected. They're going with the documentary Songs of Earth about the director Margret Olsen's father's mountainous home. Olsen was submitted once before for the drug addiction drama Angel (2010). REVIEWED.
UNITED KINGDOM (2 noms from 20 submissions)
We didn't see this coming and now we wonder why we didn't! We forgot that Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast, Birth, Under the Skin) was British! The UK will submit the very buzzy very difficult Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest. We missed a screening of this today due to a scheduling mishap (argh) which is a pity because Glazer has yet to make a film that was anything less than riveting but at least Elisa and Cláudio have already sounded off from Cannes and TIFF right here. The Zone of Interest will be released on December 8th in the US from A24. REVIEWED
PALESTINE (2 noms from 16 submissions)
Palestine has selected the intimate documentary Bye Bye Tiberias from Lina Soualem which follows actress Hiam Abbass (Succession, Munich) as she returns to the Palestinian village she left long ago for an acting career.
UPDATED PREDICTIONS
Chart 1 : Albania-Georgia | Chart 2: Germany-Norway | Chart: Pakistan-Yemen
Reader Comments (3)
I'd have bet my house on Víctor Erice. I'm intimately revolted by that decision.
Spanish fillmmakers talk shit about Netflix all year long, but the minute they put money on the table to promote Bayona's tearjerker they all went along with it.
@Peggy Sue-I'm with you ma'am.
I’d have bet my house on JA Bayona and “Society of Snow”. ”Snow” and “Zone of Interest” were obvious since they could potentially win the Oscar.
France was a slight surprise, although Tran and Binoche had been picking up a lot of momentum in the last few weeks. Poor France has so much to choose from, they’ll get attacked for whatever they choose. Italy was a disappointment but not a surprise…I’m sure “Io Capitano” is a good movie, but the Italian Academy has chosen Garrone twice without success and snubbed Alice Rohrwacher (now an Oscar nominee) and all female Italian directors even more. They’re the only European country that just ignores female directors as a rule. But “Io Capitano” is not a bad choice.
Only Norway made a WTF decision…In a strong year with big-budget blockbusters, critically acclaimed art house films, comebacks of Oscar nominated directors and stories showcasing Norway’s diversity, they pick a (very well-done) nature documentary. Good luck with that.