Oscar season is about to kick into high gear with fall festival season just around the corner. The deadline to submit international feature selections is Oct. 1, so look for a flurry of announcements in the next five weeks. The Oscars shortlists are revealed on Dec. 16, with 15 international films selected to be voted on by Academy members in all branches who commit to watch all 15 films. Oscar nominations will be revealed on Jan. 22.
Turkey was the first country out of the gate, selecting “One of Those Days When Hemme Dies,” which premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival. The Czech Republic chose “I’m Not Everything I Want to Be” after a controversial process, while Switzerland selected medical drama “Late Shift.”
Palestine submitted Annemarie Jacir’s historical drama “Palestine 36,” Ireland went with Gar O’Rourke’s Ukrainian-language doc “Sanatorium,” Bulgaria selected Milko Lazarov’s modern folktale “Tarika,” and Thailand chose Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s romantic ghost story “A Useful Ghost.”
Recently, Germany selected Mascha Schilinski’s intergenerational drama “Sound of Falling,” and Austria chose Bernhard Wenger‘s social satire “Peacock.”
Stay tuned for many more selections in the coming weeks and watch the trailers below.
Peacock (Austria)
Image Credit: Courtesy of NGF Geyrhalterfilm, Cala Film, Albin Wildner
Austria has selected Bernhard Wenger‘s social satire “Peacock” as its entry in the Best International Feature Film category of the 98th Academy Awards.
“Peacock” had its world premiere in Venice Critics’ Week last year, and MK2 sold it to more than 40 countries. It will be released in U.S. theaters on Sept. 19 by Oscilloscope.
The film stars Albrecht Schuch, who was BAFTA nominated for “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
“Peacock” centers on the cultured and confident Matthias, who is available – for a reasonable fee – to fill any social role you desire, from “the perfect son” to the “enlightened boyfriend,” or even “pilot dad” to impress your classmates on Bring Your Parent to School Day. But while Matthias is at the top of his game professionally, his personal life begins to crumble as he detaches from his own identity and burrows deeper into his fictitious lives.
Sound of Falling (Germany)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Studio Zentral
Germany has selected Mascha Schilinski’s intergenerational drama “Sound of Falling,” which won the Cannes Jury Prize, as its entry in the Best International Feature Film category of the 98th Academy Awards.
“Sound of Falling” is set in a secluded farmstead in Germany’s Altmark region. For over a century, the walls have breathed the lives of the people who live here, their tastes, their existence in time.
The film tells the story of four women from different eras – Alma (1910s), Erika (1940s), Angelika (1980s) and Nelly (2020s) – whose lives are eerily intertwined. Each of them experiences their childhood or youth on this farm, but as they roam through their own present, traces of the past – unspoken fears, repressed traumas, buried secrets – reveal themselves to them.
Alma discovers that she was named after her deceased sister and believes she must follow the same fate. Erika loses herself in a dangerous fascination with her disabled uncle. Angelika balances between a death wish and a lust for life, trapped in a fragile family system. And finally there’s Nelly, growing up in apparent security, who is haunted by intense dreams and the unconscious burden of the past. When a tragic event repeats itself on the farm, the boundaries between past and present begin to blur.
The film was produced by Maren Schmitt, Lucas Schmidt and Lasse Scharpen for Studio Zentral. MK2 is handling international sales.
A Useful Ghost (Thailand)
Image Credit: Cannes
Thailand has selected “A Useful Ghost” (Pee Chai Dai Ka) as its submission for the international feature film category at the 98th Academy Awards, the country’s National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations has revealed.
It debuted at the Cannes Critics’ Week earlier this year, where it won the grand prize.
Directed by debutant Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, “A Useful Ghost” follows March, who is mourning his wife Nat after she dies from dust pollution. When her spirit returns by possessing a vacuum cleaner, their unconventional human-ghost relationship faces resistance from his family. To prove her worth and their love, Nat offers to cleanse a factory haunted by the ghost of a worker whose death shut down operations. The film ingeniously reimagines the ghost story as a satirical romantic comedy, a deliberate departure from Thailand’s renowned horror cinema traditions.
Read the Variety review here.
Tarika (Bulgaria)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Red Carpet
Bulgaria has selected Milko Lazarov’s “Tarika,” which had its world premiere at the London Film Festival, as its submission for the International Feature Film category of the Oscars.
The film centers on Ali and his daughter Tarika, who live peacefully, but isolated, from their community in rural Bulgaria. Tarika has started developing “butterfly wings,” a bone condition she inherited from her mother and which for a long time has been a source of superstition in the village. Ali rejects invasive procedures and will do anything to protect his daughter when their village’s intolerance turns dangerous.
The sales company is Films Boutique.
Sanatorium (Ireland)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Venom Films
The Irish-made, Ukrainian-language doc “Sanatorium” is set to represent Ireland at the Oscars.
The feature debut of Galway-born filmmaker Gar O’Rourke, “Sanatorium” takes a look inside the Kuyalnik Sanatorium, a large 1970s building near Odessa in southern Ukraine, where a small group searches for love, healing and happiness and where mud treatments and Soviet-era therapies continue despite a war close by. The film had its world premiere at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen in their main international competition, DOX:AWARD.
“Sanatorium” — which comes a year after the Irish-language music biopic “Kneecap” made the Oscars shortlist for Ireland — is produced by Venom Films by IFTA-winning Ken Wardrop and Andrew Freedman (“His & Hers,” “Making the Grade”), along with Samantha Corr. It was was co-produced by 2332 Films Ukraine and made with support from Screen Ireland, BBC Storyville, MetFilm Sales, France TV, and Creative Europe.
Palestine 36 (Palestine)
Image Credit: Courtesy Mad Solutions
Annemarie Jacir’s drama “Palestine 36,” which reconstructs the Palestinian revolt against British colonial rule in 1936, has been picked as Palestine’s official entry for Palestine for the Oscars‘ international feature film race.
The selection of the timely film, which will soon premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, was made by an independent committee of Palestinian film professionals and confirmed by the Palestinian Ministry of Culture.
“Palestine 36” follows a young man named Yusuf who gets caught up in political upheaval as tensions rise in Jerusalem and his village amid British crackdowns prompted by the arrival of Jewish immigrants escaping antisemitism in Europe. The hot-button epic features a high-profile cast comprising Jeremy Irons as a colonial commissioner, Hiam Abbas (“Succession”), Liam Cunningham and Saleh Bakri (“The Teacher”).
I’m Not Everything I Want to Be (Czech Republic)
The Czech Republic has selected Klára Tasovská’s documentary feature “I’m Not Everything I Want to Be” as its submission for the International Feature Film category of the Oscars following a controversial contest.
The documentary follows the life of photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková, drawing on her diaries and thousands of photographs. It depicts the underground movement in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s as well as her dramatic escape to West Berlin, and fashion shoots in Tokyo. The film had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival last year and was awarded the Czech Lion for the best documentary feature this year.
Late Shift (Switzerland)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Keystone
Petra Volpe’s “Late Shift” is Switzerland’s official entry for the International Feature Film category for the Academy Awards.
TrustNordisk is handling international rights on the film, which stars Leonie Benesch, who previously appeared in the Oscar-nominated drama “The Teachers’ Lounge” in 2023, and Oscar-nominated drama “September 5” last year. Music Box has acquired North American rights.
“Late Shift” follows a nurse, Floria, as she navigates the relentless pace on a surgical ward with unwavering dedication, infusing humanity and warmth into her patient care even though the shift is understaffed. As the day intensifies, the film transforms into a gripping race against time, culminating in a riveting climax.
Read Variety‘s review here.
One of Those Days When Hemme Dies (Turkey)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Luxbox
Turkey has announced that first-time director Murat Firatoğlu’s “One of Those Days When Hemme Dies” has been selected as the country’s entry for the Academy Awards’ international feature film category.
“One of Those Days When Hemme Dies” was selected from 14 submissions by Turkey’s Oscar committee, comprising representatives from professional associations in the country’s film industry that operates under the Directorate General of Cinema.
The film is a tale of class-based rage and rebellion through the justice-seeking journey of a farmworker named Eyüp who works relentlessly under the blazing sun during a tomato harvest in southeastern Turkey, driven by the urgent need to settle an impending debt. After a clash with his supervisor, he roams the city in search of a radical solution.
“One of Those Days When Hemme Dies” world premiered last year at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the special jury prize in the event’s Orizzonti (Horizons) section.
