2027 Oscar International Feature Submissions: Full List — SkimNews
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- The Academy added a rule making top film festival prize winners (Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Berlinale) automatically eligible for Best International Feature, on top of the traditional country-submission route.
- "Yellow Letters" by İlker Çatak — whose previous film "The Teacher's Lounge" was nominated for Germany — won the Berlinale Golden Bear, qualifying through the festival route and freeing Germany to submit Sandra Wollner's "Everytime" as its official entry.
- Romania still selected Cristian Mungiu's "Fjord" as its official submission even though the film had already qualified by winning the 2026 Cannes Palme d'Or.
- France submitted "Minotaur" by Andrey Zvyagintsev, a Russian dissident director unable to clear Russia's selection process, since submissions don't need to be in the submitting country's national language.
- The submission window closes September 30, 2026; shortlists are announced December 15, nominations January 21, 2027, and the 99th Academy Awards take place March 14, 2027 — last season saw 92 films submitted.
Why it matters: The festival-winner rule expands the talent pool beyond what any individual country officially backs, and gives dissident filmmakers like Zvyagintsev a workaround when their governments block selection. For 50+ countries competing for five nomination slots, the dual pathway makes the December 15 shortlist harder to predict than in previous years.
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