UK Selects 'Rehearsals For A Revolution' For Oscars Entry — SkimNews
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- The UK selected Pegah Ahangarani's "Rehearsals For A Revolution" as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, with Sony Pictures Classics announcing the choice.
- "Rehearsals For A Revolution" traces Ahangarani's exile in London through five portraits of relatives and mentors, drawing on personal archives, home videos, protest footage, and newspapers to span more than 40 years of Iranian history from 1979 through a war that began in 2026.
- Sony Pictures Classics acquired the film out of Cannes for North America, Latin America, Asia (except Japan), New Zealand, Turkey, Portugal, and global airlines, with qualifying runs in New York and L.A. set for December.
- SPC plans to open the film exclusively at Landmark's Nuart Theatre in L.A. and the Film Forum in New York on January 8, 2027, before rolling it out nationwide over subsequent weeks.
- The film premiered as a Special Screening at Cannes, where it won the L'Oeil d'Or (Golden Eye), then played at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, and recently received an Albie Award from the Maysles Documentary Center honoring creators who champion social justice.
Why it matters: Sony Pictures Classics gains a built-in awards-season platform through the January 8, 2027 limited opening and the UK Oscar submission, while Ahangarani becomes a rare filmmaker whose work is being championed for an Academy Award while living in exile from her home country. The selection also gives a 40-year documentary record of Iranian political repression a global theatrical audience it would not otherwise reach.
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