Eighty-six films have been assigned to voters in the Oscars’ 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 entries was set in 2020. The number of contenders topped 90 for the first time in 2017, and did so five times in the ensuing six years. But it fell to 88 in 2023 and then 85 last year and 86 this year.
TheWrap’s guide to all of the entries, with links to trailers when available, is here.
Voters were separated into seven groups, with each group given a list of 12 or 13 films as required viewing. Voters must see every film in the group in order for their vote to count; all films will be available in the members-only screening platform devoted to the category, but voters can also indicate that they’ve seen a film elsewhere.
The films were not distributed into groups randomly, but were placed there so that each voter would be exposed to a variety of regions, genres and running times.
The list of films that were assigned to voters is not necessarily the same as the final list of qualifying films, which the Academy will release at a later date. Occasionally, an assigned film will be determined to be ineligible under the category’s rules, though in most cases there is no difference between the list of assigned films and the Academy’s final list of contenders.
First-round voting will take place from Dec. 9 to 12, with a shortlist of 15 films announced on Dec. 16. A second round of voting, open to any member who has seen 15 shortlisted films, will narrow the shortlist down to five nominees.
At the time the assignments were made, 57 of the 85 titles were available in the Academy Screening Room devoted to the category.
The highest profile films in this year’s race include Tunisia’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” Belgium’s “Young Mothers,” Chile’s “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” Denmark’s “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” Germany’s “Sound of Falling,” Hungary’s “Orphan,” Iceland’s “The Love That Remains,” Iraq’s “The President’s Cake,” Israel’s “The Sea,” Japan’s “Kokuho,” Jordan’s “All That’s Left of You,” Morocco’s “Calle Malaga,” North Macedonia’s “The Tale of Silyan,” Palestine’s “Palestine 36,” Philippines’ “Magellan,” Poland’s “Franz,” Sweden’s “Eagles of the Republic,” Switzerland’s “Late Shift,” Taiwan’s “Left-Handed Girl,” Ukraine’s “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” United Kingdom’s “My Father’s Shadow,” and five films being released by Neon: Norway’s “Sentimental Value,” Spain’s “Sirat,” Brazil’s “The Secret Agent,” South Korea’s “No Other Choice” and France’s “It Was Just an Accident.”
Several films not on the list were announced as entries by their home countries (a step that does not mean they’ve filled out all the proper submission forms). The most notable absence was Thailand’s “A Useful Ghost,” which premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Others missing from the list were Cambodia’s “Tenement,” Papua New Guinea’s “Papa Buka,” Senegal’s “Demba” and Tajikistan’s “Black Rabbit, White Rabbit.”
Here are the 86 films assigned to voters.
Albania: “Luna Park”
Argentina: “Belén”
Armenia: “My Armenian Phantoms”
Australia: “The Wolves Always Come Out at Night”
Austria: “Peacock”
Azerbaijan: “Taghiyev: Oil”
Bangladesh: “A House Named Shahana”
Belgium: “Young Mothers”
Bhutan: “I, the Song”
Bolivia: “The Southern House”
Bosnia and Herzegovina: “Blum: Masters of Their Own Destiny”
Brazil: “The Secret Agent”
Bulgaria: “Tarika”
Canada: “The Things You Kill”
Chile: “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo”
China: “Dead to Rights”
Colombia: “A Poet”
Costa Rica: “The Altar Boy, the Priest and the Gardener”
Croatia: “Fiume o morte!”
Czech Republic: “I’m Not Everything I Want to Be”
Denmark: “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”
Dominican Republic: “Pepe”
Ecuador: “Chuzalongo”
Egypt: “Happy Birthday”
Estonia: “Rolling Papers”
Finland: “100 Litres 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: “Homebound”
Indonesia: “Sore: A Wife From the Future”
Iran: “Cause of Death: Unknown”
Iraq: “The President’s Cake”
Ireland: “Sanatorium”
Israel: “The Sea”
Italy: “Familia”
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 Southern Chronicles”
Luxembourg: “Breathing Underwater”
Madagascar: “Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story”
Malaysia: “Pavane for an Infant”
Mexico: “We Shall Not Be Moved”
Mongolia: “Silent City Driver”
Montenegro: “The Tower of Strength”
Morocco: “Calle Malaga”
Nepal: “Anjila”
Netherlands: “Reedland”
North Macedonia: “The Tale 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: “Sun Never Again”
Singapore: “Stranger 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”
Turkey: “One of Those Days When Hemme Dies”
Uganda: “Kimote”
Ukraine: “2000 Meters to Andriivka”
United Kingdom: “My Father’s Shadow”
Uruguay: “Don’t You Let Me Go”
Venezuela: “Ali Primera”
Vietnam: “Red Rain”
