France Picks ‘Minotaur’ for Oscars International Race — SkimNews
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- France selected Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur as its Oscar submission for Best International Feature Film, following last year’s precedent of entering a non-French-language film.
- Andrey Zvyagintsev directed Minotaur, a French-produced political thriller that premiered at Cannes and won the Grand Prix, exploring the societal impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on provincial businessmen.
- Dmitriy Mazurov stars in Minotaur as Gleb, a company director whose personal crisis unfolds amid war-related pressures including worker conscription and financial demands for the war effort.
- CG Cinéma, Mk2 Productions, and Forma Pro Films co-produced Minotaur as a French-German-Latvian collaboration, with Mubi set to release it in U.S. theaters on November 20, 2026.
- The French selection committee shortlisted four other films — De Gaulle: Tilting Iron, Iron Boy, La Gradiva, and The Unknown — before choosing Minotaur as the final entry.
Why it matters: This marks France’s second straight year bypassing a French-language film for an international co-production in a major Oscar category, signaling a shift toward prioritizing politically resonant, cross-border projects over linguistic nationalism — a move that elevates exiled Russian voices while challenging traditional notions of national representation in global cinema.
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