by Nathaniel R
Michael Fassbender co-stars in Ireland's KNEECAP
In part one of our breakdown of the Best International Feature Film Oscar race, we looked at recurring themes, LGBTQ appeal, and running time. But there is still a lot to discuss in the collection of 85 films competing first for 15 "finalist" spots (December 17th) and then for the coveted nomination (January 17th, 2025). Let's look at the famous actors and directors who are back again hoping for some gold dust on their films...
OH, IT'S YOUR AGAIN (Familiar Faces)
Yes, there are usually a couple of Oscar nominated thespians in the Best International submission mix each year. This year three of them. Best Actress nominee Fernanda Montenegro (Central Station) makes an appearance in Brazil’s I’m Still Here which stars her daughter (garnering her own Best Actress buzz). Recent Best Supporting Actress nominee Maria Bakalova (Borat 2) is in the cast of Bulgaria’s Triumph. Twice nominated Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave, Steve Jobs) has a supporting role in Ireland’s Kneecap (pictured up top).
Other familiar beauties for curious cinephiles to look out for...
Trine Dyrholm stars in Denmark's submission THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE
Danish goddess Trine Dyrholm (Queen of Hearts, The Commune, Mary & George) has won rave reviews (what other kind would they be?) for her frightening work in Denmark’s Girl with the Needle. If you are not yet a Trine Dyrholm convert, please explore her filmography; What an actor!
Nahuel Perez Biscayart (BPM, The Intruder, etc…) and Daniel Gimenez Cacho (Bardo, Zama, Cronos, etc…), who have both appeared in multiple submissions in this category over the years star together in Argentina’s Kill the Jockey.
Irene Jacob (from 90s arthouse classics Three Colors: Red and The Double Life of Veronique) and Gregoire Colin (from the recent gem Revoir Paris and several Claire Denis films but especially Nenette & Boni and Beau Travail) star as French journalists in Cambodia’s Meeting with Pol Pot.
Mona Zaki, a major star in her home country, headline's Egypt's Flight 404. She broke through as a twenty-something on Egyptian television and later transferred to the big screen with multiple hits in the early Aughts like El Katl ElLaziz, The Days of Sadat, Africano, Mafia, and the Egyptian Oscar submission Sleepless Nights.
Louis Koo and Sammo Hung in Hong Kong's TWILIGHT OF THE WARRIORS: WALLED IN
Hong Kong's action submission Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In features leading man Louis Koo (Protege, Paradox, Once Upon a time in Hong Kong) and part time actor and 72 year old Hong Kong New Wave legend Sammo Hung who has acted, directed, choreographed and done stunt work throughout his long career with a string of landmark films stretching from Come Drink With Me (which he worked behind the scenes on at the age of 14!) through an onscreen fight with Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon, to producing the Michelle Yeoh hit Yes Madam, and many more including brief forays in Hollywood like Martial Law (on US network television for two seasons), and Disney's remake of Around the World in 80 Days.
Diamond Abou Abboud (from the Oscar nominated The Insult) stars in Lebanon’s Arzé.
Two fine Norwegian actresses, rapidly rising international player Reinata Reinsve (BAFTA nominated herself for the Oscar nominated sensation The Worst Person in the World) and Ellen Dorit Petersen (Blind, The Innocents) co-star together in Norway’s Armand, which resolves around a grade school dispute between two boys.
Finally France’s Emilia Perez, a Spanish-language musical, has three internationally famous stars: Emmy nominees Edgar Ramirez (Carlos, The Assassination of Gianni Versace), and Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building). And in a leading role that's campaigning as supporting (since she's not the titular character), blockbuster regular Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy). Gomez and Saldana may well land in Best Supporting Actress together for this film.
Common Languages
The most common languages you’ll hear if you screen all 85 films are Spanish (a whopping 16 titles or roughly 19% of the list), French (8 films), and Arabic (7 films). The other most common tongues are German, Italian, Persian, and Russian (which can be heard, at least in part, in 3 films each). Finally it should be noted that some English dialogue shows up in several films though it can’t be the primary language or the film would have been disqualified.
Which Directors Previously Helmed Oscar Nominated Films?
Jacques Audiard (Un Prophete) is back with "Emilia Perez". Photo © Rüdy Waks Img Src
There are only three directors in the mix this year who have previously landed Oscar nominations in this particular category (though technically, and rudely, the nominations do not actually belong to the director). France’s Jacques Audiard was first in the race for the classic prison drama Un Prophet (2009) but he's back as a strong possibility with the very buzzy trans musical Emilia Perez (2024) which is expected to compete in multiple Oscar categories including Best Picture. Another previous nominee is Walter Salles who should have won this prize in 1998 for Central Station. He's back with a film amusingly titled I'm Still Here since it's his first movie in over a decade.
Finally, one director in the mix has helmed a film that won this prize. Bosnia & Herzegovina’s acclaimed Danis Tanovic is back again with My Late Summer about a woman and a family inheritance. His breakthrough film No Man’s Land (2001) was an upset winner in its day, taking Cannes by storm in May and then beating France’s international blockbuster Amelie come Oscar night.
Frequently Submitted Directors Who Are Back Again In This Year’s Race
Married auteurs Nabil Ayouch & Maryam Touzani. He's back again with EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA. Image © Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images
Twenty-nine of this year’s contending films (or 34%) come from directors who have already experienced the Oscar campaigning circus in ways abstract or very real, depending on how hard of a push their films got at the time.
1. Nabil Ayouch SIX SUBMISSIONS TO DATE
The 55 year-old Paris-born Franco-Moroccan director has been submitted several times by Morocco which makes him the most enduring veteran of this category in this particular year: Mektoub (1998), Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets (2000), Horses of God (2013), Razzia (2017), Casablanca Beats (2021), and now Everybody Loves Touda (2024). Morocco has yet to be nominated for the Oscar though they’ve made the finals twice consecutively now. Will Touda become Ayouch’s third consecutive finalist or, better yet, Ayouch and Morocco's first nominee? His wife Maryam Touzani is also a director and made the finals two years ago with the gay drama The Blue Caftan.
2. [TIE] FIVE SUBMISSIONS EACH
Baltasar Kormákur
The mainstream leaning 58 year-old Icelandic director makes movies in the US as well as Iceland and he’s been submitted by his birthland five times as well: The Sea (2002), Jar City (2007), White Night Wedding (2008), The Deep (2012 *finalist*) and the romantic drama Touch (2024) this time around. (Interestingly enough his international breakthrough and prize-winning hit 101 Reykjavik was not submitted back in 2000. Too much English?)
Danis Tanovic
The 55 year-old Bosnian director has been submitted a handful of times nows: No Man’s Land (2001 *winner*), Cirkus Columbia (2010), An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (2013 *finalist*), Death in Sarajevo (2016), and now My Late Summer (2024).
4. [TIE] FOUR SUBMISSIONS EACH
Rithy Panh is back with MEETING WITH POL POT. Photo © Doha Film Institute
Rithy Panh
When Cambodia submits (which isn’t all the time) there’s a 33% chance they’ll go with 60 year-old documentarian great Rithy Panh. That amounts to four ot their submissions in the past 30 years: Rice People (1994), The Missing Picture (2013 *nominee*), Graves Without a Name (2018), and this year his first submitted narrative feature Meeting with Pol Pot (2024).
Walter Salles
The 68 year-old Brazilian director and BAFTA winner has also been submitted four times by his home country: Exposure (1991), Central Station (1998 *nominee*), Behind the Sun (2001), and now the political family drama I’m Still Here (2024). He's arguably best known stateside for The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) and On the Road (2012).
Leticia Tonos is back with the sci-fi entry AIRE JUST BREATHE. Photo Src
Leticia Tonos
The Dominican director, the only female directing making this particular year's “Most Submitted” list for 2024 has been up for her debut Love Child (2011), Cristo Rey (2014), A State of Madness (2020), and, now, the year's only International Contender set in the future: Aire Just Breathe (2024).
HONORABLE MENTION WITH THEIR THIRD SUBMISSION THIS SEASON:
Kristina Grozeva and Peter Valchanov, the directing pair from Bulgaria, have been submitted three times in the past 7 years with Glory (2017), The Father (2020), and now Triumph (2024). Educador’s Sebastian Cordero is also enjoying his third competition: Chronicles (2004), Such is Life in the Tropics (2016), and Behind the Mist (2024). Finally, Guatemala doesn’t submit annually, but when they do there's a good chance it’ll be a Jayro Bustamante film: Ixcanul (2015), La Llorona (2020, *finalist*) and Rita (2024). Portugal has sent critical fav Miguel Gomes thrice as well: Our Beloved Month of August (2008), Arabian Nights Volume 2 - The Desolate One (2015), and Grand Tour (2024). And finally Slovenia's three-timer is Sonja Prosenc with The Tree (2015), History of Love (2019), and Family Therapy (2024).
THIS SEASON MARKS THEIR SECOND SUBMISSION:
Jacques Audiard (France’s Un Prophete *nominee* and Emilia Perez), Robert Budina (Albania’s Agon and Waterdrop), Luis Ortega (Argentina’s El Angel and Kill the Jockey), Edgar Baghdasarayan (Armenia’s Lengthy Night and Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev), Gory Patino (Bolivia’s The Goalkeeper and Own Hand), Ngang Romanus (Cameroon’s Hidden Dreams and Kismet), Maite Alberdi (Chile’s The Mole Agent and In Her Place), Antonella Sudasassi (Costa Rica’s The Awakening of the Ants and Memories of a Burning Body), Hany Khalifia (Egypt’s Sleepless Nights and Flight 404), Rusudan Glurjidze (Georgia’s House of Others and The Antique), Laurynas Bareiša (Lithuania’s Pilgrims and Drowning Dry), Min Bahadur Bham (Nepal’s The Black Hen and Shambhala), Arianne Benedetti (Panama's Beyond Brotherhood and Wake up Mom) Oscar Catacora (Peru's Eternity and now co-directing Yana-Wara), Miroslav Lekić (Serbia’s Labyrinth and Russian Counsel), Mati Diop (Senegal’s Atlantics *finalist* and Dahomey), Iveta Grófová (Slovakia’s Made in Ash and The Hungarian Dressmaker), and the team of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala (Austria’s Goodnight Mommy and The Devil’s Bath).
Exhausted yet or energized by Oscar stat talk?
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