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91st Oscars. Oscar Contenders of 2018 (for the 2019 Ceremony) - For prediction, discussion, entertainment purposes
29 of 87 Submissions
Part One: Afghanistan through Georgia
Last Update October 23rd, 2018
Afghanistan through Georgia | Germany through Norway | Pakistan through Yemen |
coverage of this Oscar race:
all the trailers | all the debut directors | all 20 female directors
| previously submitted auteurs | Nathaniel's rankings |
12 international hunks | LGBT entries and Trivia |
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Afghanistan RONA AZIM'S MOTHER 89 minutes A drama about an elderly woman illegally immigrating to Germany to be with her family there. Mahmoudi previously directed another Afghan submission A Few Cubic Meters of Love (2014) |
Algeria UNTIL THE END OF TIME 93 minutes A romantic drama about a grieving widow who begins to fall in love with a gravedigger. Fun trivia: the director Yasmine Chouikh is the daughter of Yamina Bachir Chouik who was previously the only female director to have a film submitted by Algeria |
Argentina EL ANGEL 118 minutes Opens in the US on November 9th Fictionalized true story about a young beautiful man who is nicknamed 'the angel of death' by the press after a crime spree with multiple thefts and homicides. Produced by Pedro Almodóvar. Not selected: Other Argentinian films this year included the LGBT drama Marilyn, the dancer drama Malambo, Sundance acting winner Queen of Fear, and the melodrama Quietude from previously submitted director Pablo Trapero. |
Armenia SPITAK 98 minutes The story of a man searching for his family who were trapped in the epicenter of Armenia's deadliest earthquake in 1988 |
Australia JIRGA 78 minutes An Australian man returns to Afghanistan seeking redemption for the accidental killing of a civilian during the war. |
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Austria THE WALDHEIM WALTZ 93 minutes A documentary about Kurt Josef Waldheim and his role in the Nazi regime of WW II Not Selected: Katharina Mückstein's LGBT drama L'Animale and costume drama Mademoiselle Paradis which we loved last year at festivals |
Bangladesh NO BED OF ROSES 85 minutes International star Irrfan Khan leads this film about a man's reunion with his family. |
Belarus CRYSTAL SWAN 100 minutes This feature debut from director/co-writer Darya Zhuk is set in the 1990s and concerns a young DJ whose faked US Visa application gets her in trouble |
Belgium GIRL 105 minutes A story of a trans ballerina that has already proven to be an awards magnet at Cannes. Netflix picked it up. Not Selected: Sofia, also a prize winner at Cannes. |
Bolivia THE GOALKEEPER (also known as MURALLA) 90 minutes A thriller about a desperate man who gets involved in human trafficking |
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Bosnia & Herzegovina NEVER LEAVE ME 96 minutes A story of orphaned boys living as refugees in a mythical Turkish city. This is from the director of Snow and Children of Sarajevo, two previous submissions. |
Brazil THE GREAT MYSTICAL CIRCUS 105 minutes A century in the life of a circus owning family Not Selected: 21 other finalists: Caso do Homem, Desmonte do Monte, Polidoro, Liquid Truth, Ex-Shaman |
Bulgaria OMNIPRESENT 120 minutes A drama about a man who spies on his neighbors, employees and own family through hidden cameras. Not selected: Another Bulgarian film this year was Aga about elderly eskimos. |
Cambodia GRAVES WITHOUT A NAME Rithy Panh, Cambodia's only Oscar nominee via The Missing Picture, is back with a new documentary aboutu the Khmer Rouge atrocities. |
Canada FAMILY TIES 87 minutes Theodore Pellerin (who has a key part in Boy Erased) plays a young violent man who lives with his family in a cramped apartment and is trying to balance family, work with his brother, and his dealings with a drug cartel. |
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Chile AND SUDDENLY THE DAWN 195 minutes This is the third time Chile has submitted this director -- he was actually behind their very first submission in 1990 (The Moon in the Mirror). Last year Chile had its first win with Sebastian Lelio's A Fantastic Woman. Not Selected: Festival film Too Late to Die Young about families who try rural living in the 1990s |
China HIDDEN MAN 137 minutes A swordsman tries to solve an old murder case in 1930s China. The film stars Eddie Peng, Fan Liao and Jiang Wen. This is the third installment in this actor/director's gangster trilogy that includes Let The Bullets Fly and Gone With the Bullets, neither of which were submitted in this category. Not Selected: High profile chinese films this year were Ash is Purest White. Long Day's Journey Into Night, Shadow and Dead Pigs. |
Colombia BIRDS OF PASSAGE 125 minutes Opens Feb 13th in the US Ciro Guerra directed Colombia's only nominee, the incredible Embrace of the Serpent, is back (with a codirector this time) for a film aboutthe marijuana boom and how a violent decade affects a family. |
Costa Rica MEDEA 70 minutes A drama about a university student testing out her new life. Her behavior starts to change radically.
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Croatia THE EIGHTH COMMISSIONER 139 minutes A comedy about a politician sent to a remote island to oversee their first election. *two Croatian-based films were nominated from the former Yugoslavia: The Road a Year Long (1958) and The Ninth Circle (1960 |
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Czech Republic WINTER FLIES 85 minutes A road trip comedy about adolescent boys. *These figures include the Oscar record from Czechoslovokia before the split (except one winner which was Slovakian) |
Denmark THE GUILTY 85 minutes Opens in the US on October 19th Denmark's been on such a roll with Oscar! In the past 12 years they've scored 6 nominations and 1 win. (Plus an extra finalist but not quite nominee). This year they're betting on a thriller about a police officer on the phone with a kidnapped woman. It's a crowd pleaser that's already won prizes at a few film festivals including Sundance. Möller cites Dog Day Afternoon and the podcast "Serial" as influences on the movie. Not Selected: The other two finalists for submission were A Fortunate Man is from Billie August whose films have been nominated before, and Winter Brothers by Hylnur Palmason. |
Dominican Republic COCOTE 106 minutes An Evangelical Christian is asked to participate in religious rites that clash with his faith during a funeral service for his father. |
Ecuador A SON OF MAN STILL LOOKING FOR POSTER - MADE THE IMAGE ABOVE FROM STILLS 92 minutes A father and son on a journey for Inca gold. Agüero made the very odd Eva Doesn't Sleep a few years ago. |
Egypt YOMEDDINE 97 minutes As we suspected they chose the comedy that played the Cannes festival. It's about a man and his apprentice who leave a leper colony to search for their families. |
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Estonia TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT ??? minutes |
Finland EUTHANIZER 85 minutes A man who euthanizes pets for a living gets in trouble with a white supremacist. |
France MEMOIR OF WAR 127 minutes In US theaters now Benoît Magimel (The Piano Teacher) and Mélanie Thierry (The Princess of Montpensier) as Marguerite Duras star in this drama set in Nazi occupied Paris from the novel written by Duras. Not Selected: The other finalists were the crazy Climax by Gaspar Noe, Custody by Xavier Legrand, Mademoiselle de Joncquieres by Emmanuel Mouret, and The Four Sisters by Claude Lanzmann. |
Georgia NAMME 91 minutes A family drama about environmental dangers and local healing waters. Khalvashi is a non-prolific director -- this is only his 4th film in the past 28 years but he was submitted once before in 1999 for Here Comes the Dawn Not Selected: Options included Horizon by Tinatin Kajrishvilli screened in Berlin and Khibula from George Ovashvilli who has been submitted twice before |
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