24/12/2023 - European works are featured in every shortlist announced, including a strong presence in Documentary Feature

The US Academy has announced the shortlisted films in several categories of the upcoming Oscars, including International Feature Film. From all of the films submitted (read the full list here), a total of ten coming from European countries have been selected, as well as four more coming from non-European countries, but with European co-production – only one in the shortlist has no European producing partner. The awards will be handed out on 10 March.

The International Feature Film category is thus led by European submissions, notably Tran Anh Hung's The Taste of Things [+see also:
film review
film profile], coming from France after a controversial choice over the multi-award-winning Anatomy of a Fall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Justine Triet
film profile]; Nikolaj Arcel's The Promised Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], coming from Denmark; Aki Kaurismäki's Fallen Leaves [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], coming from Finland; Ilker Çatak's The Teachers’ Lounge [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: İlker Çatak
interview: Leonie Benesch
film profile], coming from Germany; Hlynur Pálmason's Godland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elliott Crosset Hove
interview: Hlynur Pálmason
film profile], coming from Iceland; Matteo Garrone's Me Captain [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], coming from Italy; JA Bayona's Netflix title Society of the Snow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: JA Bayona
film profile], coming from Spain; Mstyslav Chernov's 20 Days in Mariupol [+see also:
film review
interview: Mstyslav Chernov
film profile], coming from Ukraine; and Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], coming from the UK; as well as Michael Goorjian's Amerikatsi, coming from Armenia. Besides them, four shortlisted films are European co-productions: Bhutan's The Monk and the Gun by Pawo Choyning Dorji, a co-production with France, USA and Taiwan; Mexico's Totem [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lila Avilés
film profile] by Lila Avilés, a co-production with Denmark and France; Tunisia's Four Daughters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile] by Kaouther Ben Hania, a co-production with France, Germany and Saudi Arabia; and of course Japan's Perfect Days [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Wim Wenders' trip to the country, a co-production with his own company in Germany. The only entry without European participation is Morocco's submission, Asmae El Moudir's The Mother of All Lies.

Both Kaouther Ben Hania's and Mstyslav Chernov's films are also shortlisted in the Documentary Feature category, a section with a particularly strong European presence this year. Besides these two award-winning films, other acclaimed documentaries have made the cut: Lea Glob's Apolonia, Apolonia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lea Glob
film profile] (Denmark/Poland) and Maciek Hamela's In the Rearview [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Poland/France/Ukraine), as well as Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo's Bobi Wine: The People’s President [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (UK/Uganda/USA).

In the Short Film categories, the European contingent is wide, as usual. In the Live-Action Short Film category, Pedro Almodóvar's latest work, his queer western Strange Way of Life, leads the pack, which includes works by Misan Harriman, Ary Zara, Tom Stuart, Mark Gerstorfer, Lasse Lyskjær Noer, George Siougas, Iain Softley and Elham Ehsas. Cannes Palme d'Or winner 27 by Flóra Anna Buda leads in the Animated Short Film category, and a film co-directed by Kevin Macdonald (Last Song from Kabul) can be found in the Documentary Short Subject category.

European co-productions are present in all of the other categories, with Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Suzy Bemba
Q&A: Yorgos Lanthimos
film profile], Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Ridley Scott's Napoleon making a splash, but also leaving room for non-English fare such as Society of the Snow and The Zone of Interest.

Here are the Oscar shortlists:

International Feature Film

Armenia: Amerikatsi - Michael Goorjian (Armenia)
Bhutan: The Monk and the Gun - Pawo Choyning Dorji (Bhutan/France/USA/Taiwan)
Denmark: The Promised Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Nikolaj Arcel (Denmark/Germany/Sweden)
Finland: Fallen Leaves [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Aki Kaurismäki (Finland/Germany)
France: The Taste of Things [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Tran Anh Hung (France)
Germany: The Teachers’ Lounge [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: İlker Çatak
interview: Leonie Benesch
film profile] - Ilker Çatak (Germany)
Iceland: Godland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elliott Crosset Hove
interview: Hlynur Pálmason
film profile] - Hlynur Pálmason (Denmark/Iceland/France/Sweden)
Italy: Me Captain [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Matteo Garrone (Italy/Belgium/France)
Japan: Perfect Days [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Wim Wenders (Japan/Germany)
Mexico: Totem [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lila Avilés
film profile] - Lila Avilés (Mexico/Denmark/France)
Morocco: The Mother of All Lies - Asmae El Moudir (Morocco/Qatar/Saudi Arabia/Egypt)
Spain: Society of the Snow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: JA Bayona
film profile] - JA Bayona (Spain/USA)
Tunisia: Four Daughters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile] - Kaouther Ben Hania (France/Tunisia/Germany/Saudi Arabia)
Ukraine: 20 Days in Mariupol [+see also:
film review
interview: Mstyslav Chernov
film profile] - Mstyslav Chernov (Ukraine)
UK: The Zone of Interest [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Jonathan Glazer (UK/USA/Poland)

Documentary Feature

American Symphony - Matthew Heineman
Apolonia, Apolonia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lea Glob
film profile] - Lea Glob (Denmark/Poland)
Beyond Utopia - Madeleine Gavin
Bobi Wine: The People’s President [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Christopher Sharp, Moses Bwayo (UK/Uganda/USA)
Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy - Nancy Buirski
The Eternal Memory - Maite Alberdi (Chile)
Four Daughters - Kaouther Ben Hania
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project - Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson
In the Rearview [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Maciek Hamela (Poland/France/Ukraine)
Stamped from the Beginning - Roger Ross Williams
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie - Davis Guggenheim
A Still Small Voice - Luke Lorentzen
32 Sounds - Sam Green
To Kill a Tiger - Nisha Pahuja (Canada)
20 Days in Mariupol - Mstyslav Chernov

Live-Action Short Film

The After - Misan Harriman (UK)
The Anne Frank Gift Shop - Mickey Rapkin
An Avocado Pit - Ary Zara (Portugal)
Bienvenidos a Los Angeles - Lisa Cole
Dead Cat - Danick Audet, Annie-Claude Caron (Canada)
Good Boy - Tom Stuart (UK) 
Invincible - Vincent René-Lortie (Canada)
Invisible Border - Mark Gerstorfer (Austria)
Knight of Fortune - Lasse Lyskjær Noer (Denmark)
The One Note Man - George Siougas (UK)
Red, White and Blue - Nazrin Choudhury
The Shepherd - Iain Softley (USA/UK)
Strange Way of Life - Pedro Almodóvar (Spain/France)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar - Wes Anderson
Yellow - Elham Ehsas (UK/Afghanistan)

Animated Short Film

Boom - Gabriel Augerai, Romain Augier, Charles Di Cicco (France)
Eeva - Lucija Mrzljak, Morten Tsinakov (Estonia/Croatia)
Humo (Smoke) - Rita Basulto (Mexico/USA)
I’m Hip - John Musker
A Kind of Testament - Stephen Vuillemin (France)
Koerkorter (Dog Apartment) - Priit Tender (Estonia)
Letter to a Pig - Tal Kantor (Israel/France)
Ninety-Five Senses - Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess
Once upon a Studio - Dan Abraham, Trent Correy
Our Uniform - Yegane Moghaddam (Iran)
Pachyderme - Stéphanie Clément (France)
Pete - Bret 'Brook' Parker
27 - Flóra Anna Buda (Hungary/France)
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko - Dave Mullins
Wild Summon - Karni Arieli, Saul Freed (UK)

Documentary Short Subject

The ABCs of Book Banning - Trish Adlesic, Nazenet Habtezghi, Sheila Nevins
The Barber of Little Rock - John Hoffman, Christine Turner
Bear - Hunter Logan
Between Earth & Sky - Andrew Nadkarni
Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games - Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson
Camp Courage - Max Lowe
Deciding Vote - Robert J Lyons, Jeremy Workman
How We Get Free - Geeta Gandbhir, Samantha M Knowles
If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis - Ramin Bahrani
Island in Between - S Leo Chiang (Taiwan)
The Last Repair Shop - Kris Bowers, Ben Proudfoot
Last Song from Kabul - Kevin Macdonald, Ruhi Hamid (UK/Germany/Portugal/Qatar/Afghanistan)
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó - Sean Wang
Oasis - Justine Martin (Canada)
Wings of Dust - Giorgio Ghiotto (Peru)

Original Song

“It Never Went Away", American Symphony
“Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven)”, Asteroid City
“Dance The Night”, Barbie
“I’m Just Ken”, Barbie
“What Was I Made For?", Barbie
“Keep It Movin’”, The Color Purple
“Superpower (I)”, The Color Purple
“The Fire Inside”, Flamin’ Hot
“High Life”, Flora and Son [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Ireland/USA)
“Meet In The Middle”, Flora and Son
“Can’t Catch Me Now”, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)”, Killers of the Flower Moon
“Quiet Eyes”, Past Lives
“Road To Freedom”, Rustin
“Am I Dreaming”, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Original Score

American Fiction
American Symphony
Barbie
The Boy and the Heron
The Color Purple
Elemental
The Holdovers
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (USA/UK)
Poor Things [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Suzy Bemba
Q&A: Yorgos Lanthimos
film profile] (Ireland/UK/USA)
Saltburn [+see also:
film review
film profile] (USA/UK)
Society of the Snow
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
The Zone of Interest

Makeup and Hairstyling

Beau Is Afraid
Ferrari [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valentina Bellè
film profile] (USA/Italy)
Golda [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (UK)
Killers of the Flower Moon
The Last Voyage of the Demeter
Maestro
Napoleon (USA/UK)
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Society of the Snow

Visual Effects

The Creator
Godzilla Minus One
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Napoleon
Poor Things
Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire
Society of the Snow
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Sound

Barbie
The Creator
Ferrari
The Killer
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
The Zone of Interest