International Feature: September 2024

One of , if not the, most difficult categories to predict for any Oscar year is the recently titled International Feature Film. Due to the lengthy process of each country having to submit their own entry from a national shortlist, it can take right up until submission deadline until we know what films will even be in competition come nomination morning. In the past, countries have been accused of submitted the “wrong” film from their national shortlist, most notably in 2019 when “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” was snubbed by France, who submitted “Les Misérables” as their entry for the 92nd Academy Awards instead.

There are also times when a country has multiple plausible options, resulting in Oscar-worthy films having to miss out as a result of the one film per country format. The most recent Oscar’s saw Japan submit Wim Wenders‘ “Perfect Days”, arguably the right choice for Japan, but this saw Animated Film winner “The Boy and the Heron” and Hirokazu Koreeda‘s masterful “Monster” miss out as a result.

Final submissions to AMPAS are due Wednesday 2nd October 2024, which means any film not submitted by their country, or independently, will not be in contention for an Academy Award nomination in 2025. While there are some early contenders already locked in with a submission, such as: potential Best Picture nominee “Emilia Perez” from France; “The Seed of a Sacred Fig” from Germany; “I’m Still Her” from Brazil; and musical biopic “Kneecap” from Ireland, there are still a couple of outliers who Oscar chances remain up in the air.

The most notable of these are Payal Kapadia‘s Indian drama “All We Imagine as Light”, which was not submitted by either India or France, meaning an independent entry is its only shot but as of 30th September, still remains unsubmitted. Another notable absence which would have been eligible in the past is Sean Wang‘s “Didi”, which is ineligible due to it being a solo US production.

Based on the rather limited selection this year, I cannot see past a win for “Emilia Perez”, given its potential chances in multiple categories. However, due to the narrative surrounding the film and its production, I would not be surprised if “The Seed of a Sacred Fig” takes it on the night.

Full list of International Feature predictions – September 2024:

Strong Contenders

  1. “Emilia Perez” | France | dir. Jacques Audiard
  2. “The Seed of a Sacred Fig” | Germany | dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
  3. “I’m Still Here” | Brazil | dir. Walter Salles
  4. “Kneecap” | Ireland | dir. Rich Peppiatt
  5. “The Girl with the Needle”| Denmark | dir. Magnus von Horn

Possible Contenders

  1. “Flow”| Latvia | dir. Gints Zilbalodis
  2. “Cloud” | Japan | dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa
  3. “Universal Language” | Canada | dir. Matthew Rankin
  4. “Grand Tour” | Portugal | dir. Miguel Gomes
  5. “Vermiglio” | Italy | dir. Maura Delpero

Outsiders

  1. “Dahomey” | Senegal | dir. Mati Diop
  2. “From Ground Zero” | Palestine | dir. Various
  3. “Armand” | Norway | dir. Halfdan Ullmann Tondel
  4. “Three Kilometers to the End of the World” | Romania | dir. Emanuel Parvu
  5. “Sujo” | Mexico | dir. Astrid Rondero, Fernanda Valadez

Other

  1. “All We Imagine as Light” | Netflix | dir. Payal Kapadia

Check out my Movie Reviews and other way-too-early Oscar Predictions via the links below.

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