The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today unveiled its shortlist of 15 films that will advance to the next stage of voting in the International Feature Film category at the Oscars. Notable among omissions is Julia Ducournau’s Titane, the entry from France which won the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or — becoming only the second movie directed by a woman to scoop that prize.
Elsewhere, there are no major shocks, though neither Costa Rica’s well-received Clara Sola nor Chad’s Lingui: The Sacred Bonds factor.
Overall, 12 of the movies on the shortlist are ones we recently put forth as strong contenders. Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car from Japan made the roster today, and has picked up great momentum in the past few weeks, scoring overall Best Film honors from both the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle.
Other international favorites to land on the shortlist include Norway’s The Worst Person in the World, Iceland’s Lamb, Kosovo’s Hive (a first shortlist title for the country), Germany’s I’m Your Man, Finland’s Compartment No. 6, Iran’s A Hero and Italy’s The Hand Of God.
The latter two are notable. A Hero is directed by Asghar Farhadi who is a two-time winner in the category while The Hand Of God’s Paolo Sorrentino’s previously won the Oscar with The Great Beauty.
Denmark’s animated Flee, from Jonas Poher Rasmussen, is also doing double-duty, landing on the Documentary Feature shortlist.
Apart from Kosovo, the shortlist for the first time includes Panama with Abner Benaim’s thriller Plaza Catedral, and Bhutan with Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom from director Pawo Choyning Dorji.
Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must have met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category. In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote. Nominations voting begins on January 27, 2022, and concludes on February 1, 2022. They will be announced on February 8, 2022 with the ceremony held on March 27.
Here’s the shortlist in full:
Austria: Great Freedom
Belgium: Playground
Bhutan: Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
Finland: Compartment No. 6
Denmark: Flee
Germany: I’m Your Man
Iceland: Lamb
Iran: A Hero
Italy: The Hand of God
Japan: Drive My Car
Kosovo: Hive
Mexico: Prayers For The Stolen
Norway: The Worst Person In The World
Panama: Plaza Catedral
Spain: The Good Boss