France submits "Emilia Perez". Spain chooses "Saturn Return". Mexico names finalists
Wednesday, September 18, 2024 at 11:00PM by Nathaniel R
Selena Gomez in "Emilia Perez"
We've already posted two reviews of Emilia Perez here at TFE, from Elisa (pro) and Cláudio (con), and it's been a potential Oscar player since it's premiere at Cannes in May. Today France announced that the buzzy drug cartel trans musical curiousity would represent them at the Oscars, beating out fellow finalists Misericordia, All We Imagine as Light, and The Count of Monte Cristo. This is the second time France has submitted the often thrilling auteur Jacques Audiard. His previous submission, Un Prophete, was nominated for the prize back in 2009 but surely split the 'critical consensus' vote with Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon, allowing Argentina to slip between them for the win for the sleeper success The Secret in Their Eyes. France hasn't won the Oscar in this category since 1992's Indochine. Could Emilia Perez finally spell gold again for the birthplace of cinema?
But there's lots more International Feature Oscar news after the jump...
Saturn Return
Spain also selected their submission film, choosing Saturn Return over the other finalists, Marco and Blue Star. Saturn Return is about the rise to fame of an indie rock group in the 1990s.
Albania chose Waterdrop about a public official whose teenage son is involved in a rape scandal.
Indonesia is going with Women from Rote Island which is a drama about a woman whose two daughters are raped.
Poland went with Under the Volcano about a Ukrainian family stuck in Spain due to the war back home.
The rest of the news today comes from South America. Brazil has narrowed down their eligible films to six titles (see previous post, now updated); Bolivia and Colombia have also named their contenders in the thriller Own Hand and a boxing-related drama La Suprema, respectively.
Meanwhile we now know that Mexico is choosing between six films, all from directors who've never been submitted in this category, though one of them has Oscar history. Because the Ariel Awards (Mexico's Oscars) aren't on the same timetable as the Oscars (running summer to summer and held in September) we have a mix of last year's Ariel nominees and films that will be eligible for the 2025 Ariels. They are:
- All the Silence by Diego del Río
A drama about a hearing sign language teacher who discovers she's going deaf. Winner of four Ariel Awards in Mexico last season including Best Actress. It lost Best Film to Totem, last year's Mexican Oscar submission.
Bad Actor - Bad Actor by Jorge Cuchí
An actress accuses her co-star of misconduct in an intimate scene in this film industry drama. Reviews seem very strong. - Disappear Completely by Luis Javier Henaine
A horror thriller about a crime photographer with a mysterious illness. It was up for 8 Ariel Awards last season winning 2. - Human Resources by Jesús Magaña Vázquez
A comedy. It was up for four Ariel Awards last season. - I Don't Want to Be Dust by Ivan Lowenberg
A housewife joins a cult in this drama.
Pedro Páramo - Pedro Páramo by Rodrigo Prieto
The Oscar nominated cinematographer directed his first movie, a supernatural western of some kind involving ghosts. Rising actor Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (Lincoln Lawyer, A Man Called Otto, 6 Underground) headlines. Hits Netflix on November 6th. - Sujo by Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez
A crime drama about the son of a cartel gunman. - Valentina or the Serenity by Ángeles Cruz
A drama about grief and love. Up for three Ariel Awards last season.
Which film do you think it will be?
INTERNATIONAL OSCAR PREDICTIONS
Reader Comments (4)
I hope India or Luxembourg submit ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT now that France has passed it over. It's legitimately one of the best films of the year, one of the few that I mentally gave an instant five stars after the credits rolled.
That being said, I understand France's choice from a strategic standpoint.
Spain really fucked it up. They had a crowd pleaser and a holocaust survivor movie and they chose the weird indie movie wildly ignored by their own audience.
Peggy Sue nailed it. Marco should have been our submission, it had potential to win, due to its theme.
And the best thing that can happen to Emilia Pérez is... somehow, not making the shortlist, so AMPAS is forced to vote for it on the other categories and it can actually win Best Picture. Despite what people may be thinking, throwing the curve ball, I'd say that the actual race for the win would be...
1) The Room Next Door: Golden Lion winners, in 5 times in the last 7 years, won a big one and were nominated for Picture, Director, Acting and Screenplay. Some even with 3 acting noms. 4 of them were English-spoken and 50% of them (The Shape of Water and Nomadland) won Picture + Director, while Joker won Actor, Poor Things won Actress and Spanish language Roma won Director and Screenplay. Given that the film is strong on all those categories... it's the secret frontrunner at this point.
2) Emilia Pérez: despite reviews not being over the roof, it seems to be extremely and passionately liked and it would totally make history. Can have 3 acting nominations and Director, Film Editing, Song, Score, Cinematography, Screenplay look pretty solid options - plus International.
3) The Brutalist: Brody seems the frontrunner for Actor, however, it seems a too "Oscary" film for this AMPAS, and his director is not Nolan or anyone as overdue as him. Almodóvar is way more overdue for a Director win, so I am unsure it can pull off the final victory, and tend to see it as this year's The Irishman, The Power of the Dog or Killers of the Flower Moon, a film that will get strong nomination and de-inflate at the critical moment.
4) A Real Pain: this is being seriously underestimated. AMPAS loves actors-turned directors and has a solid candidate for a win in Kieran Culkin, plus Eissenberg could easily take away Screenplay - actors also win there, plenty of times.
5) The Piano Lesson: Gotham's Ensemble means something. Deadwyler and Jackson may both win in Supporting. Hell, they may even sweep Ensemble and Supporting in precursors. Underestimate at your own risk.
After those 5, everything is blurry. Way more than people think. If any film can upset these five, it's The Apprentice, thanks to heated conversation and vicious attacks to its cast and crew, with AMPAS reacting.
I have only seen 8 of the chosen movies by different countries so far (all European).
Pretty sure that Iceland’s “Touch” will be among the 15 that will get forward and maybe even a nom.
My personal favourite though is Ireland (so far).
But the frontrunners out of those which have been chosen are clearly (again!) France and Germany…
Can’t wait to see both of those asap. I’m particularly interested in Belgium’s choice, as it was produced by non other than Florian “The father” Zeller. And was recently chosen as one of five Lux European Audience Award nominations too (so is Senegal’s entry…weird new European country isn’t it! :)). And Chile, Poland, Italy and Brazil seem to have good chances (if Italy and Brazil go with the right ones). Also keep hearing a lot of good words about Mexico’s “Bad actor”.