by Nathaniel R
It's nearly September which means we're about to be flooded with the official submissions for Best International Feature Film for the upcoming Academy Awards. Within the new system, which allows prize winners at a handful of major film festivals automatic entry into the competition, we know that the Turkish language film Yellow Letters from German director Ilker Catak, Norway's Fjord from Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu, and the Albanian film Shame and Money from Visar Morina can compete without being selected by their country/countries of origin. It'll be interesting to see if those countries select different films to double up their chances or double-down on the acclaim that's already there.
But here are the 11 films to date that have been named as their home country's official submission...
Austria - Rose
50 submissions. 4 nominations (+ 2 finalists that were not nominated). 2 wins.
The ubiquitous Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall, Fatherland, Project Hail Mary) stars as a mysterious soldier claiming rights to an abandoned manor in the 17th century. It's inspired by accounts of women living as men in early modern Europe. Take that, Albert Nobbs! This is the third and most well received film from Austrian director Markus Schleinzer afterthe controversial Michael (2011) about a man with a child locked in his basement and the historical drama Angelo (2018) about an African boy and the Viennese aristocracy.
Colombia - Rains Over Babel
35 submissions. 1 nomination (+1 finalist that wasn't nominated)
Colombia has selected a comedic fable riffing on "Dante's Inferno" about a night club called Babel. The debut feature from 30 year old director Gala del Sol has already picked up four festival prizes including the International Feature award at the Pride Awards beating out queer critical darlings from last season like Viet and Nam and On Becoming a Guineau Fowl.
Czech Republic - If Pigeons Turned to Gold (Pepa Lubojacki)
33 submissions. 3 nominations (+3 finalists that were not nominated). 1 win
They're submitting an autobiographical documentary this year which has won prizes at four festivals already. The non-binary director Pepa Lubojacki's film is about their brothers and cousins and the family history of alcoholism and homelessness. The film was shot on an iPhone and opens in its home country on September 24th.
Dominican Republic - Melodrama (Andres Farias)
19 submissions. no nominations or finalists
Andres Farias drama is about a widow who begans a forbidden afffair with a Haitian construction worker.
Kosovo - Dua
10 submissions. 1 finalist that wasn't nominated.
This is Blerta Basholli's second submission following her narrative debut feature Hive which is the only Kosovan film to land in the finals in this category. Her new picture centers on a young girl coming of age during the Kosovan war.
Latvia - Ulya
17 submissions. 1 nomination.
Ulya is a biopic about a female Latvian basketball player who came to prominence in the 1960s. It's the third Oscar submission from the film director Viesturs Kairiss (who also works in opera and theater) after Chronicles of Melanie (2015) and January (2022). Latvia received their first nomination in this category for Flow, which won the Best Animated Feature Oscar in its year.
Lithuania - How to Divorce During the War
19 submissions. No nominations or finalists yet.
This is the third feature from director Andrius Blaževičius and his first to be submitted by LIthuanian, though his first two also won film prizes at home.
Slovakia - Flood (Martin Gonda)
30 submissions. No nominations or finalists yet.
Martin Gonda's film debut is the first narrative feature in the Rusyn language, which is an East Slavik language spoken in some parts of Central Europe. Taking place in the 1980s it's about a teen girl whose family is scheduled to be resettled in order for a reservoir to be built.
Switzerland - Who Is Still Alive
54 submissions. 5 nominations (+ 4 finalists that were not nominated). 2 wins.
Switzerland has selected a documentary by Nicolas Wadimoff which tells the story of nine people from Gaza about their experiences before the war and after it began.
Taiwan - A Foggy Tale
52 submissions. 3 nominations (+3 finalists that were not nominated). 1 win.
Taiwan still has the unfortunate distinction of having all of their nominations come from one filmmaker (Ang Lee) despite producing so many good films. They've made the finals three times since Crouching Tiger's win, but have yet to be nominated again. Chen Yu-Hsun is the first filmmaker to win all three of Taiwan's biggest film prizes (Golden Horse, Taiwan Film Critics Society, and Taipei Film Awards). A Foggy Tale took the top prize at the Golden Horse Awards this past November. It's currently available to stream on Netflix so we'll watch it soon.
Turkey - Like a Limbless Tree
33 submissions. 1 finalist that wasn't nominated.
Tunç Davut's intimate drama is about a terminally ill man searching for his missing Syrian caregiver in the port city of Izmir.
Letterboxd List | Predictions | Submission Charts
More speculation on submissions coming very soon...