Unlike the Oscar Best Picture race, which doesn’t have a real frontrunner at this point, there’s a clear favorite in the Best International Feature Film category.
With the deadline for submissions in the category passing on Wednesday and Academy members invited to become voters in the category on Friday, one big question looms over this year’s race: Can anything beat “Emilia Perez”?
At the moment, the answer appears to be no. With 82 countries having announced their entries in the race, no other film has anywhere near the visibility of the French entry, Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical about a Mexican drug lord who undergoes sex reassignment surgery. The film has U.S. distribution from Netflix and is considered a strong candidate for a Best Picture nomination, which in five of the last six years has been a ticket to victory in the international race. (In all six of those years, the director of the international winner has also been nominated for Best Director.)
Still, it’s too early to tell how much traction the unconventional and adventurous “Emilia Perez” will get during awards season, and a few of the other entries have some visibility. Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here,” the Brazilian entry, has won rave reviews and comes from the director of “The Motorcycle Diaries” and “Central Station.” Germany’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” takes place in Iran and has a backstory guaranteed to get attention: Director Mohammad Rasoulof, identified as a dissident by the Iranian government, fled that country before the film’s premiere after he’d been sentenced to flogging and imprisonment. And Italy, the country with more wins than any other, has entered “Vermiglio,” which is set during World War II — a favorite era in this category.
Other films with a good chance in the category that has gravitated toward high-profile nominees since its voting system was changed to eliminate the executive committee that would “save” adventurous films and add them to the shortlist: Argentina’s “Kill the Jockey,” Canada’s “Universal Language,” Chile’s “In Her Place,” Denmark’s “The Girl With the Needle,” Iceland’s “Touch,” Ireland’s “Kneecap,” Norway’s “Armand,” Portugal’s “Grand Tour” and Senegal’s “Dahomey.”
Notable directors in the mix include Norway’s Halfdan Ullman Tondel, the grandson of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullman; Senegal’s Mati Diop, who has made the shortlist twice; Chile’s Maite Alberdi, nominated twice for Best Documentary Feature; and Cambodia’s Rithy Panh, whose “The Missing Picture” was nominated in the international category.
Wednesday, Oct. 2 was the final day films could be submitted to the Academy; 77 countries had announced their submissions by the end of that day, with another five doing so since then. (In addition, Venezuela announced a new submission, “Vuelve a la Vida,” and said their original entry, “Children of Las Brisas,” failed to qualify because it had a streaming release prior to its theatrical debut. All other entries will need to be vetted by the Academy as well.)
Academy-authorized selection committees were required to choose a film and submit entry materials to AMPAS by 5 p.m. PT on Wednesday, but they’re under no obligation to announce those submissions — so the current list of 82 submissions is likely to be increased by a handful of additional films that will bring the total close to last year’s 88 eligible films. (The record is 93, but that seems unlikely.)
To date, more than a dozen countries that submitted films last year have yet to announce submissions for 2024. That includes Australia, Luxembourg, Nigeria, North Macedonia (which announced that it had no eligible films to choose from), Paraguay, Singapore and South Africa.
Only one of this year’s entries, Ireland’s “Kneecap,” is currently available to be viewed in the members-only Academy Screening Room, but a second screening room devoted to the international category will open on Friday, Oct. 18 and will eventually contain all the eligible films. Academy members received an email on Friday inviting them to opt in as voters in the international and animated feature categories.
A previous email went out last week and told prospective voters that if they opted in, they’d be required to view 12 or 13 films, the same number as last year. The email added that viewing assignments will be made on Nov. 1 and preliminary voting will run from Dec. 9-13, with the 15-film shortlist announced on Dec. 17.
The International Feature Film Award Executive Committee, which oversees the category, will be chaired this year by Rajendra Roy, who has served as co-chair for the last three years, and Ngozi Onwurah, a filmmaker from the Short Films Branch who is replacing director Susanne Bier as a co-chair.
Click here to see TheWrap’s list of all the submissions announced so far, with descriptions and links to trailers when available.
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