France announced that Alice Diop’s “Saint Omer” will be their selection for the International Film Oscar. Not that surprising, but I do wonder if the cerebral nature of the film will go down well with Academy voters. For now, it’s definitely a contender.
Romain Gavras’ “Athena” was not eligible since it is a Netflix production and won’t be released in French theaters. Otherwise, that could have been a major contender. As it happens, it’s now streaming on Netflix.
As I mentioned last week, before this morning’s announcement, Diop’s film was the favourite since it just won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice. The fiercest competition it had was probably Mia Hansen-Love’s “One Fine Morning.”
This year’s committee includes international sales agents Hengameh Panahi, Grégoire Melin, producers Philippe Rousselet (“Coda”), Didar Domehri (“Girls of the Sun”), and directors Jacques Audiard (“A Prophet”) and Michel Gondry (“L’ecûme des jours”), along with Gaumont executive Ariane Toscan du Plantier.
You will find all of the submitted International films in a separate post this weekend. So far, there have been more than 50 countries who have submitted their picks to academy. I’ve narrowed it down to the 12 most likely contenders, films that head into the race as the frontrunners.
“Decision to Leave” (South Korea)
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (German)
“EO,” (Poland)
“Close” (Belgium)
“Holy Spider” (Denmark)
“Argentina 1985” (Argentina)
“Bardo” (Mexico)
“Corsage” (Austria)
“Alcarras” (Spain)
“Return to Seoul” (Cambodia)
“Boy From Heaven” (Denmark)
“Saint Omer” (France)