Oscars International Race Heats Up as Heavy Hitters Enter

With lower than two weeks to go till the Academy’s Dec. 1 deadline for submissions, the Oscars race within the Best International Feature Film class doesn’t seem like struggling any slowdown due to the coronavirus.

As of Thursday, greater than 60 completely different nations had introduced their Oscar submissions within the class. That’s greater than the 58 that had introduced final yr on the identical level within the Oscar calendar. (With no pandemic to delay the Oscars for 2 months, the 2019 deadline was Oct. 1, not Dec. 1.)

Last yr’s subject was initially introduced as a file 93 submissions, although two subsequent disqualifications lowered the ultimate whole to 91.

While this yr’s race doesn’t have any prohibitive favorites like final yr’s “Parasite” or 2018’s “Roma,” quite a few the latest submissions seem like severe contenders. Denmark’s “Another Round,” as an example, stars Mads Mikkelsen and is directed by Thomas Vinterberg, whose 2013 movie “The Hunt” was a nominee on this class. Mexico’s “I’m No Longer Here,” directed by Fernando Frias de la Parra, beat out one other robust contender in Michel Franco’s “New Order,” partially due to vocal help from Oscar-winning Mexican administrators Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro. And France, which is all the time a robust contender and has extra nominations within the class than some other nation, selected Filippo Meneghetti’s “Two of Us,” a love story between two older girls, over a slew of robust choices (together with Maïmouna Doucouré’s high-profile Netflix drama “Cuties”).

The race ought to get one other main contender subsequent week when Italy makes its selection. The Italian submission committee beforehand narrowed the sector to a hefty 25 movies, together with Gianfranco Rosi’s acclaimed documentary “Notturno” and Edoardo Ponti’s Netflix launch “The Life Ahead,” that includes the primary onscreen efficiency in a decade from Ponti’s mom, legendary actress Sophia Loren.

Among the nations which have submitted to this point this yr are three African nations which have by no means earlier than entered the Oscar race: Lesotho, with the religious reverie “This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection”; Sudan, with “You Will Die at 20”; and Suriname, with “Wiren.”

An extra 38 nations that participated within the race final yr have but to announce their submissions this yr. Those embody Afghanistan, Australia, Bolivia, China, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.

So far, 5 nations have submitted documentaries, a larger-than-usual whole that was doubtless impressed by the truth that the doc “Honeyland” was nominated on this class (and in Best Documentary Feature) finally yr’s Oscars. The nonfiction contenders embody Romania’s “Collective,” a narrative of investigative journalists uncovering authorities corruption, and Chile’s “The Mole Agent,” an unlikely story of espionage set in a retirement house.

Academy-approved submission committees in every nation have till Dec. 1 to decide on their entries, one per nation. There isn’t any requirement to publicly announce the names of submissions as soon as they’re made, however most nations do. Being introduced doesn’t assure {that a} movie will meet the necessities and be accepted as a contender; final yr, Austria and Nigeria had each introduced their submissions, however these movies had been later disqualified for being predominantly in English.

The Academy typically publicizes the names of all submissions inside per week of the deadline, however it’s anticipated to delay that announcement this yr. Most doubtless, it is going to solely reveal the names of the rivals after they’ve all been vetted, to forestall the embarrassment of asserting movies and later…