France’s “Emilia Perez”, Germany’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” and Brazil’s “I’m Still Here” have been named on the shortlist for the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category, maintaining their leading positions in that race. It was kept in which there were less films. More high-profile contenders than usual this year.
Other films on the list are Canada’s “Universal Language”, Czech Republic’s “Waves”, Denmark’s “The Girl with the Needle”, Iceland’s “Touch”, Ireland’s “Kneecap”, Italy’s “Vermglio”, Latvia’s ” Flo,” Norway’s “Armand,” Palestine’s “From Ground Zero,” Senegal’s “Dahomey,” Thailand’s “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” and the United Kingdom’s “Satisfaction.”
“Flow” is the only animated film on the list, while “Dahomey” is the only documentary. The Palestinian selection, “From Ground Zero”, is the most unusual of the shortlisted films, consisting of 22 different short films made in the last year by directors living in Gaza.
As usual, the list was largely European, with 10 shortlisted films from Europe, two from Asia and one each from North America, South America and Africa.
While Palestine and Thailand were in some ways the most unexpected nominees, for the most part the list stuck to films that were supported going into the vote. The most notable contenders that did not make the shortlist were Mexico’s “Suzo,” Sweden’s “The Last Journey,” Portugal’s “Grand Tour,” Belgium’s “Julie Keeps Quiet” and India’s “Lost Ladies,” which was nominated for that country’s Best Original Song. The submission committee chose in place of importance. Favorite “We all imagine ourselves as light.”
Two of the films are from directors whose films have previously been nominated for an Oscar: Jacques Audiard, director of “Emilia Pérez,” also directed “A Prophet,” which was nominated in the category in 2009, while “I “I’m Still Here” director Walter Salles’ “Central Station” was nominated in 1998.
One of the shortlisted directors, Halfdan Ulman Tondel (“Armand”), is the grandson of Ingmar Bergman, whose films won the award three times (“The Virgin Spring,” “Through a Glass Darkly” and “Fanny & Alexander”). ), second only to four-time winners Vittorio De Sica and Federico Fellini.
This year’s field included 85 films, the fewest films to qualify in this category in nine years.
The selection was made by volunteers from all branches of the Academy, who were divided into seven groups and tasked with watching 12 or 13 films as required. Voters who watched everything from their group were free to watch and vote for any films from other groups, with the 15 films scoring the best using ranked-choice voting advancing to the shortlist.
In the past, an executive committee would look at the voters’ choices and add three additional films to the list, a system designed to weed out more challenging films. But with those executive committee “rescues” no longer possible, the list of shortlisted films has become quite predictable, with the highest-profile films almost always moving forward.
Here’s the full shortlist:
Brazil, “I’m Still Here”
Canada, “universal language”
Czech Republic, “Waves”
Denmark, “The Girl with the Needle”
France, “Emilia Perez”
Germany, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
Iceland, “Touch”
Ireland, “Kneecap”
Italy, “Vermiglio”
Latvia, “Flow”
Norway, “Armand”
Palestine, “From Ground Zero”
Senegal, “Dahomey”
Thailand, “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies”
United Kingdom, “Satisfaction”
The second round of voting will limit the field to five candidates. Oscar nominations will be announced on January 17, 2025, while the 97th Academy Awards will take place on March 2.
Check out the other Oscar shortlists below.