France Submits Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur for Oscar — SkimNews
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- France selected Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur as its entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards, bypassing other shortlisted titles including De Gaulle: Tilting Iron and The Unknown.
- Andrey Zvyagintsev directed Minotaur, his first film since 2017’s Loveless, which was also Oscar-nominated; the new film premiered at Cannes, where it won the Grand Prix.
- Minotaur explores the social and moral tensions in a Russian provincial city following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, focusing on a businessman whose personal crisis unfolds amid wartime pressures.
- CG Cinéma and mk2 Productions produced the French-led international co-production, with support from ARTE France Cinéma and partners in Latvia and Germany, and distribution by Films du Losange in France.
- Mubi will release Minotaur in U.S. theaters on November 20, 2026, handling the American rollout of the French submission to the Oscars.
- Charles Tesson chaired the selection committee, which included producers Sophie Mas, Coralie Fargeat, and Adeline Monzier, along with sales agents and industry experts, all voting on the final pick.
Why it matters: France’s consecutive choice of non-French-language films for the International Feature category—Zvyagintsev’s Russian-language *Minotaur* following Jafar Panahi’s Persian-language film—signals a shift toward politically resonant, director-driven work over national linguistic identity, with direct implications for how European countries position films in the global awards race.
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