France Unveils Shortlist of Five Films for the International Oscar Race, From ‘Minotaur’ to ‘De Gaulle’ and ‘Iron Boy’ — SkimNews
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- France's National Film Board unveiled Thursday a five-film shortlist for the best international feature film Oscar race, with selections reconvening Sept. 16 for final pitches from producers and U.S. distributors.
- Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Minotaur", a Cannes Grand Prize winner scathing corruption in Putin's Russia from the Russian filmmaker who lives in France with asylum status, leads the shortlist; Mubi holds U.S. distribution.
- Antonin Baudry's "The Battle of De Gaulle: The Iron Age" (Pathé Films) and Arthur Harari's "The Unknown" starring Léa Seydoux and Niels Schneider (Neon) join as Cannes competitors; "De Gaulle" has drawn more than five million admissions in France.
- Louis Clichy's hand-painted animated "Iron Boy", acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, won the Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize and three Annecy awards, positioning France behind last year's Latvian winner "Flow."
- Marine Atlan's "La Gradiva", a coming-of-age melodrama that won the Critics' Week Grand Prize at Cannes, is represented internationally by MK2 Films and acquired by 1-2 Special.
- The committee debate is expected to be vibrant because some members are reportedly reluctant to select a foreign director whose film is not in French — the same friction that followed last year's pick of Iranian Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner over Richard Linklater's French-language "Nouvelle Vague."
- France has not won the international feature Oscar since Régis Wargnier's "Indochine" in 1993.
Why it matters: All five shortlisted films carry Cannes momentum heading into the Sept. 16 vote, and the committee's reported reluctance to back a foreign director creates an unusual bind: France's most decorated contender — Zvyagintsev's Russian-language "Minotaur" — is also its most politically charged, while the country's 32-year Oscar drought in this category raises the stakes of the eventual pick.
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