Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to be announced on December 21, with the final five nominees announced on January 23.
The 2023 awards saw 92 submissions with the five nominated films ending up as Argentina’s Argentina, 1985; Belgium’s Close; Poland’s EO; Ireland’s The Quiet Girl and the eventual winner All Quiet On The Western Front from Germany.
Latest submissions
Chile: The Settlers (Felipe Gálvez)
Read the full article here. International sales: mk2
Germany: The Teachers’ Lounge (lker Çatak)
Read the full article here. International sales: Be For Films
Uruguay: Family Album (Guillermo Rocamora)
A recently divorced father decides to form a rock band with his two teenage sons in Rocamora’s third feature film. The director’s 2008 short film Good Trip competed at Cannes while his feature debut Solo picked up the Ibero-American Opera Prima award at Miami International Film Festival. Family Album is produced by Cimarrón Cine with a cast comprised of Diego Cremonesi, Franco Rizzaro, Valeria Lois, Alfonso Tort, Vicente Pieri and Roberto Suárez. It will be released in Uruguay on August 24. This is the country’s 22nd submission to the Oscars with only one nomination for Adolfo Aristarain’s A Place In The World in 1992, which was subsequently rescinded after an investigation uncovered that the production was almost entirely Argentinian. International sales: TBC
Americas
Asia
South Korea: Concrete Utopia (Tae-hwa Eom)
The survivors of a devasting earthquake in Seoul try to piece themselves back together again in Tae-hwa’s second feature. The film will screen at Toronto next month before going on to Sitges and Hawaii festivals. Squid Game’s Lee Byung-hun leads the cast with Park Seo-joon and Park Bo-young. South Korea won the Oscar in 2020 with Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, which also picked up best picture, and has also made the shortlist twice – in 2018 for Lee Chang-dong’s Burning and last year with Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave. International sales: Lotte Entertainment
Tajikistan: Melody (Behrouz Sebt Rasoul)
Read the full article here. International sales: Dreamlab Films
Europe
Estonia: Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Anna Hints)
This documentary, which explores a community of women who bond in their local sauna, premiered at Sundance where Hints picked up the best directing award in world cinema – documentary. The director’s debut feature has also screened at CPH:DOX, Hong Kong, and Munich while it had its UK premiere at Sheffield Doc:Fest. This marks Estonia’s 20th submission to the Oscars, having been nominated once in 2014 for Zaza Urushadze’s Tangerines as well as making the shortlist in 2019 with Tanel Toom’s Truth And Justice. International sales: Autlook Films
Switzerland: Thunder (Carmen Jaquier)
Read the full article here. International sales: WTFilms
Middle East and Africa
Oceania
Source : Screen Daily
