Lithuania Picks 'How to Divorce During the War' for Oscar Race
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- Lithuania selected Andrius Blaževičius' "How to Divorce During the War" as its entry for the Academy Award for best international feature film, announced Tuesday by the Lithuanian Film Centre.
- Blaževičius' third feature won the directing award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance and played in more than 30 festival competitions, taking prizes in Hong Kong, Las Palmas and Uruguay.
- Zeitgeist Films in association with Kino Lorber acquired U.S. theatrical distribution rights, with the film set for an Aug. 21 release; world sales are handled by Jan Naszewski's New Europe Film Sales.
- Set in Vilnius in 2022, the film follows executive Marija's divorce conversation with husband Vytas one day before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, weaving geopolitical reality into a mid-life and refugee crisis.
- Selection was made by Lithuania's National Selection Committee, chaired by director Ignas Miškinis, and has been approved by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
- Miškinis framed the pick as marrying "universal human relationships and geopolitical reality," noting that "the presence of war can be felt in the background of the film."
Why it matters: Lithuania's submission enters the international feature race with built-in Oscar credibility after a Sundance directing award and 30+ festival play. Zeitgeist/Kino Lorber's Aug. 21 U.S. theatrical bow arrives well ahead of the March 14, 2027 ceremony, giving international feature voters months to see and champion the film — a standard runway for category campaigns.
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