The 2018-2019 Oscar Season is officially upon us, as 93 countries have submitted their entries into the newly dubbed Best International Feature Film category for the 92nd Academy Awards. Among the entries are front-runners like “Pain and Glory,” which debuted in America last weekend and “Parasite,” which has been receiving rave reviews and has its American debut this upcoming weekend. Animated films “Weathering With You,” “Retablo,” and “Ne Zha” could stand out because of their altered mediums or other films that have seen American releases, like “Furie,” “Ága,” or “Gully Boy” could have a leg up because Academy members have been more exposed to them. There’s also a handful of releases, like “The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind,” which was directed by Academy Award nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor or “Dear Ex” that are currently available on Netflix and could also find a wider audience. Never underestimate films with recognizable stars, like “Instinct,” which stars Carice van Houten or “Out Stealing Horses,” which stars Stellan Skarsgård.
Eventually these 93 features will be whittled down to nine and from there, five of them will end up with an Academy Award nomination. Gun to my head right now, if I had to pick five, they’d be:
WAY TOO EARLY PREDICTIONS
- South Korea, “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho
- United Kingdom, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Netherlands, “Instinct,” Halina Reijn
- Mexico, “The Chambermaid,” Lila Avilés
- Iceland, “A White, White Day,” Hlynur Pálmason
Sight unseen, “Parasite” has the most buzz around it and if it starts showing up in the Critics Awards for their Best International Feature of the Year, then you can start to assume that it is the front-runner for the Oscars as well.
Here’s the full list:
- Albania, “The Delegation,” Bujar Alimani
- Algeria, “Papicha,” Mounia Meddour
- Argentina, “Heroic Losers,” Sebastián Borensztein
- Armenia, “Lengthy Night,” Edgar Baghdasaryan
- Australia, “Buoyancy,” Rodd Rathjen
- Austria, “Joy,” Sudabeh Mortezai
- Bangladesh, “Alpha,” Nasiruddin Yousuff
- Belarus, “Debut,” Anastasiya Miroshnichenko
- Belgium, “Our Mothers,” César Díaz
- Bolivia, “I Miss You,” Rodrigo Bellott
- Bosnia and Herzegovina, “The Son,” Ines Tanovic
- Brazil, “Invisible Life,” Karim Aïnouz
- Bulgaria, “Ága,” Milko Lazarov
- Cambodia, “In the Life of Music,” Caylee So, Sok Visal
- Canada, “Antigone,” Sophie Deraspe
- Chile, “Spider,” Andrés Wood
- China, “Ne Zha,” Yu Yang
- Colombia, “Monos,” Alejandro Landes
- Costa Rica, “The Awakening of the Ants,” Antonella Sudasassi Furniss
- Croatia, “Mali,” Antonio Nuic
- Cuba, “A Translator,” Rodrigo Barriuso, Sebastián Barriuso
- Czech Republic, “The Painted Bird,” Václav Marhoul
- Denmark, “Queen of Hearts,” May el-Toukhy
- Dominican Republic, “The Projectionist,” José María Cabral
- Ecuador, “The Longest Night,” Gabriela Calvache
- Egypt, “Poisonous Roses,” Ahmed Fawzi Saleh
- Estonia, “Truth and Justice,” Tanel Toom
- Ethiopia, “Running against the Wind,” Jan Philipp Weyl
- Finland, “Stupid Young Heart,” Selma Vilhunen
- France, “Les Misérables,” Ladj Ly
- Georgia, “Shindisi,” Dimitri Tsintsadze
- Germany, “System Crasher,” Nora Fingscheidt
- Ghana, “Azali,” Kwabena Gyansah
- Greece, “When Tomatoes Met Wagner,” Marianna Economou
- Honduras, “Blood, Passion, and Coffee,” Carlos Membreño
- Hong Kong, “The White Storm 2 Drug Lords,” Herman Yau
- Hungary, “Those Who Remained,” Barnabás Tóth
- Iceland, “A White, White Day,” Hlynur Pálmason
- India, “Gully Boy,” Zoya Akhtar
- Indonesia, “Memories of My Body,” Garin Nugroho
- Iran, “Finding Farideh,” Azadeh Moussavi, Kourosh Ataee
- Ireland, “Gaza,” Garry Keane, Andrew McConnell
- Israel, “Incitement,” Yaron Zilberman
- Italy, “The Traitor,” Marco Bellocchio
- Japan, “Weathering with You,” Makoto Shinkai
- Kazakhstan, “Kazakh Khanate. The Golden Throne,” Rustem Abdrashov
- Kenya, “Subira,” Ravneet Singh (Sippy) Chadha
- Kosovo, “Zana,” Antoneta Kastrati
- Kyrgyzstan, “Aurora,” Bekzat Pirmatov
- Latvia, “The Mover,” Davis Simanis
- Lebanon, “1982,” Oualid Mouaness
- Lithuania, “Bridges of Time,” Audrius Stonys, Kristine Briede
- Luxembourg, “Tel Aviv on Fire,” Sameh Zoabi
- Malaysia, “M for Malaysia,” Dian Lee, Ineza Roussille
- Mexico, “The Chambermaid,” Lila Avilés
- Mongolia, “The Steed,” Erdenebileg Ganbold
- Montenegro, “Neverending Past,” Andro Martinović
- Morocco, “Adam,” Maryam Touzani
- Nepal, “Bulbul,” Binod Paudel
- Netherlands, “Instinct,” Halina Reijn
- Nigeria, “Lionheart,” Genevieve Nnaji
- North Macedonia, “Honeyland,” Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska
- Norway, “Out Stealing Horses,” Hans Petter Moland
- Pakistan, “Laal Kabootar,” Kamal Khan
- Palestine, “It Must Be Heaven,” Elia Suleiman
- Panama, “Everybody Changes,” Arturo Montenegro
- Peru, “Retablo,” Alvaro Delgado Aparicio
- Philippines, “Verdict,” Raymund Ribay Gutierrez
- Poland, “Corpus Christi,” Jan Komasa
- Portugal, “The Domain,” Tiago Guedes
- Romania, “The Whistlers,” Corneliu Porumboiu
- Russia, “Beanpole,” Kantemir Balagov
- Saudi Arabia, “The Perfect Candidate,” Haifaa Al Mansour
- Senegal, “Atlantics,” Mati Diop
- Serbia, “King Petar the First,” Petar Ristovski
- Singapore, “A Land Imagined,” Yeo Siew Hua
- Slovakia, “Let There Be Light,” Marko Skop
- Slovenia, “History of Love,” Sonja Prosenc
- South Africa, “Knuckle City,” Jahmil X.T. Qubeka
- South Korea, “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho
- Spain, “Pain and Glory,” Pedro Almodóvar
- Sweden, “And Then We Danced,” Levan Akin
- Switzerland, “Wolkenbruch’s Wondrous Journey into the Arms of a Shiksa,” Michael Steiner
- Taiwan, “Dear Ex,” Mag Hsu, Chih-Yen Hsu
- Thailand, “Krasue: Inhuman Kiss,” Sitisiri Mongkolsiri
- Tunisia, “Dear Son,” Mohamed Ben Attia
- Turkey, “Commitment Asli,” Semih Kaplanoglu
- Ukraine, “Homeward,” Nariman Aliev
- United Kingdom, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” Chiwetel Ejiofor
- Uruguay, “The Moneychanger,” Federico Veiroj
- Uzbekistan, “Hot Bread,” Umid Khamdamov
- Venezuela, “Being Impossible,” Patricia Ortega
- Vietnam, “Furie,” Le Van Kiet
