Three more Best International Film Contenders & Finalist Lists

by Nathaniel R

THREE KILOMETRES TO THE END OF THE WORLD © Vlad Dumitrescu

It's that time of year when countries are regularly announcing their Oscar submission. We started the week with 15 contenders but now we're at 18 and we have three new finalist lists, as well... 

NEW OFFICIAL CONTENDERS

BULGARIA - Triumph
A comedy about the fall of communism and a secret military operation to 'make Bulgaria great again'. Directing duo Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov were previously submitted twice, first for Glory (2017), and then for  The Father (2020) not to be confused with the Oscar-winning English language drama with the same name that year. Will the third time be the charm? That third submission ties them for most submissions from their home country with the solo director Stephan Komandarev. Bulgaria is still waiting on its first nomination but they did make the finals once for Komandarev's The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (2009)

ROMANIA - Three Kilometres to the End of the World 
 Reviewed by Elisa at Cannes.
Emanuel Pârvu's drama about a teenager who is gay-bashed and the repercussions with his homophobic family and town premiered at Cannes. It won the Queer Palm. Laura Vasiliu (4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days) plays the teen's mother. Romanian has had a critically lauded and vital cinema in the 21st century but they've only been nominated once (Collective, 2020). 

SOUTH KOREA - 12:12 The Day
Available to rent on Apple and stream on Viki
Kim Sung-su's 1979 set military coup drama was a huge hit in South Korea, becoming one of its highest grossing films ever. Hwang Jung-min (You Are My Sunshine, The Wailing, Deliver Us from Evil) and Jung Woo-sung (the Good The Bad The Weird, Reign of Assassins) headline. 12:12 The Day won Best Film and Best Actor (Hwang beating Jung) at the 60th annual Baeksang Arts Awards this past summer triumphing over Concrete Utopia (South Korea's submission last Oscars season) as well as the also hugely popular horror film Exhuma (Best Director, Best Actress, Best New Actor) which was also considered for the submission this year.  Like Romania, South Korean cinema has been hugely lauded this century but that hasn't fully transferred to the Oscars; Parasite is South Korea's sole nominee and winner. 

FINALIST LISTS

Some countries have a winnowing process where they announce the films in contention that they're choosing between. Here are the three latest countries to announce finalists...

Karim Aïnouz is back with MOTEL DESTINO

BRAZIL
They're often difficult to predict since they don't always follow critical opinion and they've yet to win the gold. There are 12 possibilities at this point though they'll announce a shortlist of 6 choices on September 16th before the final decision on September 23rd. The contenders are Bittersweet Rain by Haroldo Borges, Cidade; Campo by Juliana Rojas, Estômago 2 - O Poderoso Chefe by Marcos Jorge, Heartless by Nara Normande e Tião, The Hijacking of Flight 375 by Marcus Baldini, I'm Still Here by Walter Salles (he's been submitted thrice for Exposure, Central Station, and Behind the Sun  with Central Station  of course actually competing... and surely coming in second place), Cannes competition film Motel Destino by Karim Aïnouz (previously submitted for The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao), Nobody Leaves Alive by André Ristum, A Part of Us by Flávio Botelho, Power Alley by Lillah Halla, Vermelho Monet by Halder Gomes and Votos by Ângela Patrícia Reinige.

UPDATE 09/18 From this list the following films were chosen as shortlist finalist:

• Bittersweet Rain
• Cidade Campo
• Heartless
• I'm Still here
• Motel Destino
• Power Alley

SPAIN
Spain has won the prize four times but not for the past 20 years. They've shortlisted three films: The Blue Star by Javier Macipe is about a musician visiting Argentina, Marco the Invented Truth by Aitor Arregi & Jon Garano (who were previously submitted for the Catalan language drama Flowers) is about a Spanish trade unionist who spread lies about concentration camps, and Saturn Return by Isaki Lacuesta & Pol Rodriguez, which like The Blue Star is a music-focused drama. It's about an indie band embarking on a new album. 

CROSSING by Levan Akin

SWEDEN
They're looking at three possibilities: Crossing by Levan Akin is a drama about a retired teacher and a lawyer fighting for trans rights (Akin was previously submitted for the excellent gay film And Then We Danced which was a big winner right here at TFE), The Last Journey is a documentary about a Swedish TV duo by Filip Hammar and Fredrick Wikingsson, and the Swedish ex-pat drama Shame on Dry Land by Axel Petersen which takes place in Malta. 

Comments

[J P]

Not to be too much of a bother, but wanted to flag that it looks like the Best Actress and Best Actor prediction pages didn't fully update!

[Antônio]

Brazil’s Heartless is amazing! But I believe they’ll choose Walter Salles and The Fernandas. The committee usually go with movies “for American taste” or directed by an internationally known filmmaker, no matter the quality in both cases. In the lack of these options, they select a bold title. With Ainouz in the running too, Heartless is probably the third option, the bold one.