by Nathaniel R
8 VIEWS OF LAKE BIWA - Estonia's submission
Four more official submissions have been announced for the Best International Feature race at the impending 97th Oscars. They are...
ARMENIA - Yasha and Leonid Breshnev
Edgar Baghdasaryan's tragicomedy is about an elderly Armenian who is reluctant to accept that the Soviet Union is no more. Armenia has been submitting since 1991 and Baghdasaryan has now been submitted twice (the first time was in 2019 for Lengthy Night), tying Vigen Chaldranyan for most Armenian submissions. Armenia has yet to be nominated though they made the finals just last year with Amerikatsi.
CROATIA - Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day
Ivona Juka's first feature since 2015's You Carry Me is about filmmakers in 1950s Yugoslavia.
ESTONIA - 8 Views of Lake Biwa
Marko Raat's romantic drama centers on two teenage girls and a fishing village that's suffered a disaster.
EVERYBODY LOVES TOUDA
MOROCCO - Everybody Loves Touda
Nabil Ayouch is their most submitted director, with Everybody Loves Touda following Mektoub (1998), Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets (2000), Horses of God (2013), Razzia (2017), and Casablanca Beats (2021). While Morocco has yet to be nominated they have made the finals three times in the modern era (Omar Killed Me, The Blue Caftan, Mother of All Lies) so perhaps it's only a matter of time now.
FINALIST LISTS WE HADN'T YET COVERED
The Czech Republic, Netherlands, and Ukraine will announce their selected titles soon. They're considering the following options...
CZECH REPUBLIC
They'll vote from the following list, which features only two previously submitted Czech directors.
HER BODY
- Amerikanka by Viktor Tauš
Tauš did a TV movie by this name a few years back so we doubt this will be the one for eligibility reasons - The End of the World by Bohdan Sláma
Two fathers interfere with a relationship between their kids - Escape to Berlin by Martin Froyda and Jan Novák
A documentary about five men leaving for war and the events that followed back home - The Gardener's Year by Jiří Havelka
A dramedy - Hello, Welcome by Simon Holy
A dramedy about three actresses attending a film festival that puts their friendships and careers in question. - Her Body by Natálie Císařovská
An Olympic athlete becomes a porn star - The Meaning and Mystery of Life by Petr Vachler (previously submitted for Zatopek in 2021)
An animated documentary about, well..., the title! - Our Lovely Pig Slaughter by Adam Martinec
A family drama centered around an annual slaughter event - Sucho by Bohdan Sláma (previously submitted for Something Like Happiness in 2005)
- Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light by Filip Pošivač
An animated fantasy about a glowing boy and his friend who lives in a dark house - Waltzing Matilda by Petr Slavík
An Alzheimer's focused family drama - Waves by Jiří Mádl
A political family drama - Her Drunken Diary by Dan Svátek
An alcoholic dramedy
THE NETHERLANDS
This year no previously Oscar-submitted directors were in the running. They are choosing between these 8 films:
MEMORY LANE
- Gerlach by Aliona van der Horst and Luuk Bouwman
A documentary profile of the titular farmer - Hardcore Never Dies by Jim Taihuttu
A sibling drug drama - Last Call by Boris Paval Conen
A sequel to a 2016 movie revolving around four aging friends - Milk by Stefanie Kolk
A drama about a woman dealing with her breast milk after a stillborn birth - Memory Lane by Jelle de Jonge
A road trip film about an elderly couple going to Spain. - Lost City by Willy Lindwer
A documentary about a town in Amsterdam that collaborted with the Nazis - Fox and Hare Save the Forest by Mascha Halberstad
An animated animal adventure - White Flash by Laura Hermanides
A family drama about a middle-aged son seeking euthanasia
UKRAINE
They're choosing between four films. None of the directors have been submitted in previous years.
SLOVO HOUSE. UNFINISHED NOVEL
- Intercepted by Oksana Karpovych
A documentary featuring soldier's phone calls home to their families - La Palisiada by Philip Sotnychenko
A murder investigation drama set in 1996 - Slovo House. Unfinished Novel by Taras Tomenko
A drama about Ukrainian artists and genocide - We Were Recruits by Lubomir Levitski
Another documentary, this one on ordinary people becoming soldiers for full scale war
Have you seen any of these pictures?
SUBMISSION CHARTS
• Chart 1 - ALBANIA through GEORGIA
• Chart 2 - GERMANY through NORWAY
• Chart 3 - PAKISTAN through YEMEN