International Oscar category sends 86 films to voters

Eighty-six films went to voters in the Academy Awards’ best international feature film category, one more than qualified in last year’s race. The assignments came in emails obtained by TheWrap and sent by the Academy on Friday to members who volunteered to vote in the category.

The record of 93 applications was set in 2020. The number of contenders exceeded 90 for the first time in 2017, and did so five times in the following six years. But it fell to 88 in 2023 then to 85 last year and to 86 this year.

TheWrap’s guide to all entries, with links to trailers where available, is here.

Voters were divided into seven groups, with each group given a list of 12 or 13 films to watch. Voters must see all of the group’s films for their vote to count; all films will be available on the screening platform reserved for members and dedicated to the category, but voters will also be able to indicate that they have seen a film elsewhere.

The films were not distributed in random groups, but were placed there so that each voter was exposed to a variety of regions, genres and running times.

The list of films awarded to voters is not necessarily the same as the final list of eligible films, which the Academy will release at a later date. Sometimes an awarded film will be deemed ineligible under category rules, although in most cases there is no difference between the list of awarded films and the Academy’s final list of contenders.

The first round of voting will take place December 9-12, with a shortlist of 15 films announced on December 16. A second round of voting, open to any member who has seen 15 shortlisted films, will narrow the shortlist to five nominees.

At the time of distribution, 57 of the 85 titles were available in the Academy’s screening room dedicated to the category.

Among the highest-profile films in this year’s race are Tunisia’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” Belgium’s “Young Mothers,” Chile’s “The Mysterious Look of the Flamingo,” Denmark’s “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” Germany’s “Sound of Falling,” Hungary’s “Orphan,” Iceland’s “The Love That Remains,” and Iceland’s “The President’s Cake.” Iraq, “The Sea” of Israel, and “The Sea” of Japan. “Kokuho”, “All That’s Left of You” from Jordan, “Calle Malaga” from Morocco, “The Tale of Silyan” from North Macedonia, “Palestine 36” from Palestine, “Magellan” from the Philippines, “Franz” from Poland, “Eagles of the Republic” from Sweden, “Late Shift” from Switzerland, “Left-Handed Girl” from Taiwan, “2000 Meters to Andriivka” from Ukraine, “My Father’s Shadow” from the United Kingdom and five films released by Neon: “Sentimental Value” from Norway, “Sirat” from Spain, “The Secret Agent” from Brazil, “No Other Choice” from South Korea and “It Was Just an Accident” from France.

Several films not on the list were announced as entries by their home countries (a step which does not mean they have completed all the appropriate entry forms). The most notable absence was that of the Thai film “A Useful Ghost”, which premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Others missing from the list: “Tenement” from Cambodia, “Papa Buka” from Papua New Guinea, “Demba” from Senegal and “Black Rabbit, White Rabbit” from Tajikistan.

Here are the 86 films assigned to voters.

Albania: “Luna Park”
Argentina: “Bethlehem”
Armenia: “My Armenian ghosts”
Australia: “Wolves always come out at night”
Austria: “Peacock”
Azerbaijan: “Taghiyev: Oil”
Bangladesh: “A house called Shahana”
Belgium: “Young Mothers”
Bhutan: “Me, the song”
Bolivia: “The House of the South”
Bosnia and Herzegovina: “Blum: masters of their own destiny”
Brazil: “The Secret Agent”
Bulgaria: “Tarika”
Canada: “The Things You Kill”
Chile: “The mysterious look of the pink flamingo”
China: “Death to rights”
Colombia: “A poet”
Costa Rica: “The altar boy, the priest and the gardener”
Croatia: “Fiume o morte!” »
Czech Republic: “I am not everything I want to be”
Denmark: “Mr. Nobody against Putin”
Dominican Republic: “Pepe”
Ecuador: “Chuzalongo”
Egypt: “Happy birthday”
Estonia: “Rolling sheets”
Finland: “100 liters of gold”
France: “It was just an accident”
Georgia: “Panopticon”
Germany: “Sound of falling”
Greece: “Arcadia”
Greenland: “Walls – Akinni Inuk”
Haiti: “Kidnapping Inc.”
Hong Kong: “The Last Dance”
Hungary: “orphan”
Iceland: “The love that remains”
India: “Confined at home”
Indonesia: “Pain: a wife from the future”
Iran: “Cause of death: unknown”
Iraq: “The President’s Cake”
Ireland: “Sanatorium”
Israel: “The sea”
Italy: “Family”
Japan: “Kokuho”
Jordan: “All that’s left of you”
Kyrgyzstan: “Black Red Yellow”
Latvia: “Dog of God”
Lebanon: “A sad and beautiful world”
Lithuania: “The Chronicles of the South”
Luxembourg: “Breathing underwater”
Madagascar: “Disco Africa: A Malagasy story”
Malaysia: “Pavane for an infant”
Mexico: “We will not be moved”
Mongolia: “silent city driver”
Montenegro: “The Tower of Strength”
Morocco: “Calle Malaga”
Nepal: “Anjila”
Netherlands: “Reedland”
North Macedonia: “The Story of Silyan”
Norway: “Sentimental value”
Palestine: “Palestine 36”
Panama: “Beloved Tropic”
Paraguay: “Under the flags, the sun”
Peru: “Kinra”
Philippines: “Magellan”
Poland: “Franz”
Portugal: “Banzo”
Romania: “Traffic”
Saudi Arabia: “Hijra”
Serbia: “Never again the sun”
Singapore: “Foreign eyes”
Slovakia: “Father”
Slovenia: “Little Trouble Girls”
South Africa: “The heart is a muscle”
South Korea: “No other choice”
Spain: “Sirat”
Sweden: “Eagles of the Republic”
Switzerland: “Late Shift”
Taiwan: “Left-handed girl”
Tunisia: “The voice of Hind Rajab”
Türkiye: “One of those days when Hemme dies”
Uganda: “Kimote”
Ukraine: “2,000 meters to Andriivka”
United Kingdom: “My Father’s Shadow”
Uruguay: “Don’t let me go”
Venezuela: “Ali Primera”
Vietnam: “Red Rain”