As with most years, the Foreign Language Feature submissions from each country are the first to be displayed. Spanning the globe, these films have all met their eligibility requirements and will become one of five films to make the final cut. Eventually these 83 films will be narrowed down to 9 that are eligible and from that smaller pool will come the five nominees. Credit must be given to the Foreign Language division of the Academy that usually sift through all these films, so how they find the time to make these cuts and views these films is a marvel in and of itself.
Last year, “Ida” (Poland) won the category, a black-and-white feature following a young woman training to become a nun who leaves in order to take care of some family business.
As I haven’t seen almost any of the ones in the running this year, the only ones I can even remotely extrapolate on are the ones I’ve seen trailers for throughout the year. Austria’s “Goodnight Mommy” (the “Goodnight Mommy” trailer) is one I wanted to see, which is a thriller about twin boys who believe their mother, who just returned from facial reconstruction surgery, isn’t actually their mother. Brazil’s “The Second Mother,” (the “Second Mother” trailer) about a live-in housekeeper for a rich family whose daughter comes to stay and ends up blurring the lines between the upstairs/downstairs dynamic. Canada’s “Félix and Meira (the “Felix and Meira” trailer) is a story of an unconventional romance between two people living vastly different realities mere blocks away from one another.” Germany’s “Labyrinth Of Lies” (the “Labyrinth Of Lies” trailer) was just recently released in the United States, and it sees a “young public prosecutor comes across some documents that help initiate the trial against some members of the SS who served in Auschwitz.”
A few others have trailers that I know less about are India’s “Court” (the “Court” trailer), Greece’s “Xenia” (the “Xenia” trailer), Sweden’s “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence” (the “Pigeon” trailer), and Taiwan’s “The Assassin” (the “Assassin” trailer). Below is the list of all 81 films in contention:
- Afghanistan, “Utopia,” Hassan Nazer
- Albania, “Bota,” Iris Elezi, Thomas Logoreci
- Algeria, “Twilight of Shadows,” Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina
- Argentina, “The Clan,” Pablo Trapero
- Australia, “Arrows of the Thunder Dragon,” Greg Sneddon
- Austria, “Goodnight Mommy,” Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
- Bangladesh, “Jalal’s Story,” Abu Shahed Emon
- Belgium, “The Brand New Testament,” Jaco Van Dormael
- Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Our Everyday Life,” Ines Tanović
- Brazil, “The Second Mother,” Anna Muylaert
- Bulgaria, “The Judgment,” Stephan Komandarev
- Cambodia, “The Last Reel,” Sotho Kulikar
- Canada, “Félix and Meira,” Maxime Giroux
- Chile, “The Club,” Pablo Larraín
- China, “Go Away Mr. Tumor,” Han Yan
- Colombia, “Embrace of the Serpent,” Ciro Guerra
- Costa Rica, “Presos,” Esteban Ramírez
- Croatia, “The High Sun,” Dalibor Matanić
- Czech Republic, “Home Care,” Slavek Horak
- Denmark, “A War,” Tobias Lindholm
- Dominican Republic, “Sand Dollars,” Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas
- Estonia, “1944,” Elmo Nüganen
- Ethiopia, “Lamb,” Yared Zeleke
- Finland, “The Fencer,” Klaus Härö
- France, “Mustang,” Deniz Gamze Ergüven
- Georgia, “Moira,” Levan Tutberidze
- Germany, “Labyrinth of Lies,” Giulio Ricciarelli
- Greece, “Xenia,” Panos H. Koutras
- Guatemala, “Ixcanul Volcano,” Jayro Bustamante
- Hong Kong, “To the Fore,” Dante Lam
- Hungary, “Son of Saul,” László Nemes
- Iceland, “Rams,” Grímur Hákonarson
- India, “Court,” Chaitanya Tamhane
- Iran, “Muhammad: The Messenger of God,” Majid Majidi
- Iraq, “Memories on Stone,” Shawkat Amin Korki
- Ireland, “Viva,” Paddy Breathnach
- Israel, “Baba Joon,” Yuval Delshad
- Italy, “Non essere cattivo,” Claudio Caligari
- Ivory Coast, “Run,” Philippe Lacôte
- Japan, “100 Yen Love,” Masaharu Take
- Jordan, “Theeb,” Naji Abu Nowar
- Kazakhstan, “Stranger,” Yermek Tursunov
- Kosovo, “Babai,” Visar Morina
- Kyrgyzstan, “Heavenly Nomadic,” Mirlan Abdykalykov
- Latvia, “Modris,” Juris Kursietis
- Lebanon, “Void,” Naji Bechara, Jad Beyrouthy, Zeina Makki, Tarek Korkomaz, Christelle Ighniades, Maria Abdel Karim, Salim Haber
- Lithuania, “The Summer of Sangaile,” Alanté Kavaïté
- Luxembourg, “Baby (A)lone,” Donato Rotunno
- Macedonia, “Honey Night,” Ivo Trajko
- Malaysia, “Men Who Save the World,” Liew Seng Tat
- Mexico, “600 Miles,” Gabriel Ripstein
- Montenegro, “You Carry Me,” Ivona Juka
- Morocco, “Aida,” Driss Mrini
- Nepal, “Talakjung vs Tulke,” Basnet Nischal
- Netherlands, “The Paradise Suite,” Joost van Ginkel
- Norway, “The Wave,” Roar Uthaug
- Pakistan, “Moor,” Jami
- Palestine, “The Wanted 18,” Amer Shomali, Paul Cowan
- Paraguay, “Cloudy Times,” Arami Ullón
- Peru, “NN,” Héctor Gálvez
- Philippines, “Heneral Luna,” Jerrold Tarog
- Poland, “11 Minutes,” Jerzy Skolimowski
- Portugal, “Arabian Nights – Volume 2, The Desolate One,” Miguel Gomes
- Romania, “Aferim!” Radu Jude
- Russia, “Sunstroke,” Nikita Mikhalkov
- Serbia, “Enclave,” Goran Radovanović
- Singapore, “7 Letters,” Royston Tan, Kelvin Tong, Eric Khoo, Jack Neo, Tan Pin Pin, Boo Junfeng, K. Rajagopal
- Slovakia, “Goat,” Ivan Ostrochovský
- Slovenia, “The Tree,” Sonja Prosenc
- South Africa, “The Two of Us,” Ernest Nkosi
- South Korea, “The Throne,” Lee Joon-ik
- Spain, “Flowers,” Jon Garaño, Jose Mari Goenaga
- Sweden, “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence,” Roy Andersson
- Switzerland, “Iraqi Odyssey,” Samir
- Taiwan, “The Assassin,” Hou Hsiao-hsien
- Thailand, “How to Win at Checkers (Every Time),” Josh Kim
- Turkey, “Sivas,” Kaan Müjdeci
- United Kingdom, “Under Milk Wood,” Kevin Allen
- Uruguay, “A Moonless Night,” Germán Tejeira
- Venezuela, “Gone with the River,” Mario Crespo
- Vietnam, “Jackpot,” Dustin Nguyen
