Deadline’s Contenders Film: International Kicks Off Today Spotlighting 12 Movies In The Oscar Picture
09.12.2023 - 17:19
/ deadline.com
Deadline’s Contenders Film: International award-season event launches Saturday beginning at 9 a.m. PT, the latest in our series of showcases that this time turns the focus toward global cinema via discussions with the casts and creatives of 12 movies submitted by their countries for the 2024 Academy Awards’ International Feature race.
The 2023 Oscar ceremony was a triumph for international film. Going into the ceremony, Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front was a winner already, having earned a spectacular seven nominations. If that wasn’t enough, it came away with four statuettes: one for International Feature, and three for Cinematography, Music and Production Design. Clearly this can’t happen every year, but, like Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite before it, Berger’s World War I epic proved that boundaries are being broken down, and international film, once synonymous with arthouse, is making commercial headway.
Recent stats also show that the Academy is becoming a little more experimental in their taste. Historically, the Oscars has tended to favor Europe: since 1947, Italy has mustered 14 wins, with France close behind with 12. In third place comes Japan with three, so there’s everything to play for here. In recent times, the Oscar shortlist has made room for films from Bhutan (Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom), Tunisia (The Man Who Sold His Skin) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Quo Vadis, Aida?). Surprisingly, given the precarious state of world politics today and almost every day, the Academy tends not to be swayed by headlines, which means that political choices are by no means a safe bet.
With nearly 100 submissions this year competing for just five International Feature slots, it is a highly crowded field, and some