{"id":84537,"date":"2026-09-04T01:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T01:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/84537\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T01:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T01:20:14","slug":"international-oscar-submissions-every-countrys-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/84537\/","title":{"rendered":"International Oscar Submissions: Every Country’s Selection"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe campaigns for the Oscar for international feature film are gaining momentum, with final submissions due by Oct. 1. The Oscars shortlists will be revealed on Dec. 15, with 15 international films selected to be voted on by Academy members in all branches who commit to watch all 15 films. Oscar nominations will be revealed on Jan. 21.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis year\u2019s entries include titles like Romania\u2019s \u201cFjord,\u201d which won the Palme d\u2019Or at Cannes; Chile\u2019s \u201cThe Meltdown,\u201d which screened in Un Certain Regard; and Germany\u2019s \u201cEverytime,\u201d which won Cannes\u2019 Un Certain Regard prize. <\/p>\n

\n\tFrance has not yet submitted a film, but faces several disparate choices<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, a new Academy rule allows any film that wins the top prize at one of the six biggest festivals \u2014 Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Sundance, Busan and Toronto \u2014 to be entered in the international feature race even without a national committee\u2019s backing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tFjord (Romania)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Fjord\"\"Fjord\"
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy of Tudor Panduru\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFjord,\u201d written and directed by Cristian Mungiu, is Romania\u2019s submission for the 2027 Oscars in the best international feature film category, having been unanimously chosen by the country\u2019s selection committee.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film premiered in the official competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d\u2019Or for best film, the FIPRESCI Prize, the Ecumenical Jury Prize, the Prix de la Citoyennet\u00e9 and the Fran\u00e7ois Chalais Prize.<\/p>\n

\n\tSebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve star in the lead roles, with cinematography by Tudor Vladimir Panduru, editing by Mircea Olteanu, and production design by Simona P\u0103dure\u021bu.<\/p>\n

\tAontas (Ireland)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Aontas\"\"Aontas\"
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: P\u00faca Pictures\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAontas,\u201d the Irish-language heist thriller from director Damian McCann, has been chosen as Ireland\u2019s entry for the best international feature film category at the 2027 Academy Awards.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film was selected by the Irish Film & TV Academy (IFTA) and a committee including \u201cEvil Dead Rise\u201d director Lee Cronin, \u201cDerry Girls\u201d creator Lisa McGee, BAFTA-nominated director Brian Kirk (\u201cGame of Thrones), BAFTA nominated director Kathryn Ferguson (\u201cNothing Compares\u201d), Emmy-winning actress and filmmaker Aisha Tyler (\u201cFriends\u201d), actress Fionnuala Flaherty (\u201cKneecap\u201d) and IFTA chief executive \u00c1ine Moriarty.<\/p>\n

\n\tTold in reverse chronology, \u201cAontas\u201d follows three unlikely thieves, led by a woman on the verge of a breakdown, who rob a rural Irish bank. Opening in the tragic aftermath of the heist-gone-wrong. What starts as a poorly executed robbery becomes a portrait of a wilful woman trapped in her own past. It stars Carrie Crowley (\u201cThe Quiet Girl \u201c), Br\u00edd Brennan, Eva-Jane Gaffney, Se\u00e1n T. \u00d3 Meallaigh, Marcus Lamb and Art Parkinson.<\/p>\n

\tThe Meltdown (Chile)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"'The\"'The
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: ‘The Meltdown’ Courtesy of Mubi\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tChile\u2019s Film Academy has selected \u201cThe Meltdown\u201d (\u201cEl deshielo\u201d) by Manuela Martelli, her post-Pinochet mystery drama set in an Andes ski resort, to represent the country in the Best International Feature category at the 2027 Academy Awards. Martelli\u2019s follow-up to her acclaimed drama \u201cChile, 1976\u201d had its world premiere at Cannes\u2019 prominent strand Un Certain Regard this year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Meltdown\u201d stars Maya O\u2019Rourke \u2013 in her film debut \u2013 who plays a nine-year-old at her family\u2019s ski resort who witnesses unsettling events that will test her loyalties. Other cast members are Paulina Urrutia, Mauricio Pe\u0161uti\u0107, Paula Z\u00fa\u00f1iga, Marcela Salinas and Lautaro Cantillana.<\/p>\n

\tAll of a Sudden (Japan)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"All\"All
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy of Neon, Cannes Film Festival\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tHamaguchi Ryusuke\u2018s \u201cAll of a Sudden\u201d has been selected as Japan\u2019s entry in the international feature category at the 99th Academy Awards, the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren) has revealed.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe selection marks the second time a Hamaguchi film has represented Japan in the category, five years after \u201cDrive My Car\u201d won the international feature Oscar and picked up nominations for best picture, director and adapted screenplay at the 94th Academy Awards.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAll of a Sudden\u201d is a France-Japan co-production made with backing from Germany and Belgium, shot largely in Paris. The film draws on \u201cWhen Life Suddenly Takes a Turn: Twenty Letters Between a Philosopher With Terminal Cancer and a Medical Anthropologist,\u201d a book of correspondence by Miyano Makiko and Isono Maho. It follows Marie-Lou Fontaine (Virginie Efira), who runs a nursing home outside Paris and pushes to adopt a more dignity-focused model of elderly care, and Morisaki Mari (Okamoto Tao), a Japanese theater director undergoing cancer treatment. Nagatsuka Ky\u014dz\u014d and Kurosaki K\u014ddai round out the cast.<\/p>\n

\tEverytime (Germany)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"'Everytime'\"\"'Everytime'\"
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy of The Barricades\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tSandra Wollner\u2019s \u201cEverytime\u201d has been selected as Germany\u2019s entry for the Academy Award for best international feature film.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film\u2019s synopsis reads as follows: The last photograph Jessie took shows the sun over Berlin. It hangs there as if nothing had happened. But Ella has lost her daughter. What remains is Jessie\u2019s younger sister and a complicated relationship with the boy everyone blames. The unlikely trio ends up on a family holiday that never really existed. Under the shimmering sun of Tenerife, memory and the present become inseparably intertwined. The ghosts are everywhere.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEverytime\u201d celebrated its world premiere at the 79th Cannes Film Festival in May. Wollner\u2019s third feature film, for which she also wrote the screenplay, was selected for the Un Certain Regard sidebar where it won the Prix Un Certain Regard, the section\u2019s top award. Cannes was followed by invitations to the Sydney Film Festival and the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, among others. At the Sarajevo Film Festival, \u201cEverytime\u201d was awarded the Heart of Sarajevo Grand Prize. Its North American premiere will follow in September at the Toronto Film Festival. Other festival appearances include the New York Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\tBecoming Human (Cambodia)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Becoming\"Becoming
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Anti-Archive\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Cambodia Oscar Selection Committee (COSC) has selected \u201cBecoming Human,\u201d directed by Polen Ly, as the country\u2019s official submission for the international feature film category at the 99th Academy Awards.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film follows Thida, the spirit guardian of an aging cinema slated for demolition, as she weighs the choice of rebirth against her existence as a ghost. Her bond with Hai, a living man she meets along the way, pushes her to confront both her spiritual fate and a country in the midst of sweeping social change.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBecoming Human\u201d is Ly\u2019s debut feature. He previously made the short film \u201cFurther and Further Away\u201d in 2022 and the documentary \u201cUntil the Orchid Blooms,\u201d which premiered at IDFA in 2024 and won the grand prize at the Taiwan International Documentary Festival in 2026. The cast is led by 15-year-old newcomer and dance student Savorn Serak alongside Piseth Chhun, who won the Venice Horizons award for best actor in 2021 for his role in Kavich Neang\u2019s \u201cWhite Building.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tPossible Love (South Korea)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Possible\"Possible
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy of Netflix, Venice Film Festival\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has selected \u201cPossible Love,\u201d directed by Lee Chang-dong, as South Korea\u2018s official entry for the international feature film category at the 2027 Academy Awards.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPossible Love\u201d marks Lee\u2019s first feature in eight years, following \u201cBurning,\u201d \u201cPoetry\u201d and \u201cSecret Sunshine.\u201d The film centers on two married couples whose lives intersect after a funeral: Mi-ok and her laid-off husband Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu), who live quietly with their young son Cheol, and Ye-ji, a filmmaker making a documentary about workers who lost their jobs, and her husband Sang-woo (Zo In-sung). When Mi-ok agrees to be filmed by Ye-ji, the two women grow close, while Mi-ok finds herself unsettled by an attraction to Sang-woo. As the two couples\u2019 worlds overlap, cracks begin to surface in both marriages.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn its evaluation, the committee cited the film\u2019s polished craftsmanship and the clarity of its directorial vision, pointing to the tone and mise-en-sc\u00e8ne that sustain a sense of pressure throughout the story. The drama was described as prompting reflection on gentle forms of violence, incomplete freedom and the nature of true happiness, alongside a labor movement sequence that the committee said captured layered social undercurrents.<\/p>\n

\tLike a Limbless Tree (Turkey)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Like\"Like
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy Tekhne Film\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLike a Limbless Tree,\u201d an intimate social drama directed by Tun\u00e7 Davut, has been selected as Turkey\u2018s entry for the Academy Award for best international feature film.<\/p>\n

\n\tDavut, whose previous works include the 2015 drama \u201cEntanglement and TV series \u201cSer\u00e7e\u201d and \u201cKinali Kuzular,\u201d delves into the fragility of human existence against a backdrop of the theme of immigration in \u201cLike a Limbless Tree.\u201d The film is produced by Istanbul-based Tekhne Film and stars Ali Ipin, Fayyaz Duman and Selen Kurtaran.<\/p>\n

\n\tDavut\u2019s drama \u2013 which won an award at the Bosphorus Film Festival and was selected for the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and the Ankara Film Festival \u2013 is about a retired engineer named Refik whose life changes forever after being diagnosed with a terminal disease just as his Syrian caregiver disappears while attempting to flee to Europe, leaving him in charge of her two children.<\/p>\n

\tHow to Divorce During the War (Lithuania)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"How\"How
\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Courtesy of New Europe Film Sales\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAndrius Bla\u017eevi\u010dius\u2019 \u201cHow to Divorce During the War\u201d has been selected as Lithuania\u2019s entry for the Academy Award for best international feature film.<\/p>\n

\n\tBla\u017eevi\u010dius\u2019 third feature won the directing award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. The film was picked up for theatrical distribution in North America by Zeitgeist Films, in association with Kino Lorber, and will be released on Aug. 21.<\/p>\n

\n\tSet in Vilnius in 2022, it\u2019s a story of a high-flying executive Marija, who chooses the worst possible moment for an honest conversation with her husband Vytas about divorcing \u2013 just one day before Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine goes into full scale. Now the couple must navigate the process of separation as it collides with a refugee and mid-life crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The campaigns for the Oscar for international feature film are gaining momentum, with final submissions due by Oct.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61056,5,9692],"class_list":["post-84537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-fjord","tag-germany","tag-oscars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}