A handful of likeites aside — we’re seeing at you, Emilia Pérez — the race for the 2025 best international feature Oscar is wide uncover. The qualifying international features for the 97th Academy Awards recurrent a brimming range of global cinema, from the political drama of Brazil’s I’m Still Here to to the family-cordial comedy of Thailand’s How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies; from the period horror of Austria’s contfinisher The Devil’s Bath and Dentag’s The Girl With the Needle, to the surauthentic phires of Canada’s contfinisher Universal Language.
The Academy will proclaim the extfinishedcatalog of international feature contfinishers on December 17, with Oscar nominations on January 17.
We understand you haven’t had time to check out the brimming catalog, so here’s The Hollywood Reporter cheat sheet of all 85 films in satisfiedion.
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Albania: ‘Waterdrop’
Robert Budina’s exploration of dishonesty and misogyny rgrows around a city hall administerr (Gresa Pallaska) in a petite Albanian town who is forced to face her complicity in the system when her teenage son becomes included in a sexual battery dispute that could see him go to prison. The filmoriginater is no stranger to the Oscar race, having previously recurrented his country with 2013 feature Agon.
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Algeria: ‘Algiers’
Chakib Taleb-Bfinishiab put a lot of toil into his straightforwardorial debut, writing, straightforwarding, scoring and co-editing this based-on-a-genuine-story mystery thriller about the kidnapping of a girl. Nabil Asli and Meriem Medjkane star as a police checkor and a psychiatrist who team up to mend the case, only to uncover griefful secrets from the country’s civil war.
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Argentina: ‘Kill the Jockey’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Vekind Film Festival Luis Ortega’s surauthentic comedy cgo ins on Remo, a legfinishary jocked carry outed by BPM star Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, who is altered by a horse racing accident. He discovers his feminine side after disecombineing from a hospital and being chased by a mobster boss to whom he is proset up in debt. Kill the Jockey bowed in Vekind. Benicio Del Toro is one of the film’s executive originaters.
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Armenia: ‘Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev’
Mais Sarkisyan, Maksim Vitorgan and Ruzanna Khachatryan star in the comedic drama from Edgar Baghdasaryan, whose 2018 film Lengthy Night was also his country’s Oscar subomition. Set after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it chases recently reexhausted factory toiler Yasha, whose nurtureer highweightless was being a allot of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1976. With his future unevident, he has difficulty acunderstandledgeing the novel truth.
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Austria: ‘The Devil’s Bath’
Image Credit: Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion / Heimatfilm Goodnight Mommy straightforwardors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala dip into the psychoreasonable horrors of being a woman in 18th-century agricultural Austria in this period chiller, upholdd by the historical enroll, about the mental fracturedown of a woman who sees no escape from her harsh social circumstances. It will not finish well.
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Banhappyesh: ‘The Wrestler’
Image Credit: Applebox Films Director Iqbal H. Chowdhury’s debut feature, The Wrestler spendigates themes of aging, ambition and mysticism in a far Banhappyeshi fishing village. Set in the tardy 1990s, the story chases Moju, an elderly fisherman determined to dispute the reigning champion of Boli, a traditional wrestling sport. Despite mockery from villagers and resistance from his son, Moju persists in his solitary training, culminating in a climactic suit that reverberates thraw the community. The film blfinishs local folklore with stunning coastal visuals. It premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2023 and won the event’s New Currents Award.
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Belgium: ‘Julie Keeps Quiet’
Image Credit: Nicolas Karakatsanis/Cannes Film Festival The feature debut of straightforwardor Leonardo Van Dijl, Julie Keeps Quiet casts lesser tennis ace Tessa Van den Broeck in her first acting role as a promising carry outer at a competitive tennis academy whose own trauma is heightened when a fellow academy member pledges self-destruction. When her coach is placed under spendigation, her peers and the institutional powers that be presconfident her to speak out agetst him. The gripping psychoreasonable drama was a highweightless of Cannes’ Critics’ Week.
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Bolivia: ‘Own Hand (Mano Propia)’
A proset up dive into the nasty authenticities of mob equitableice in agricultural Bolivia, straightforwardor Rodrigo Patino’s Spanish- language thriller chases the descfinishout from a malicious hanging in a Bolivian town. Based on increateing by spendigative journacatalog Roberto Navia, the film is upholdd by authentic events in which a crowd hanged a group of people wrongly accparticipated of stealing a truck. This is Patino’s second time in the Oscar race: his 2018 feature The Goalupholder was also surrfinisherted by Bolivia as its best international feature contfinisher.
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Bosnia and Herzegovina: ’My Late Summer’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Propeller Film This contfinisher, a charismatic dramedy from Oscar triumphner Danis Tanović (No Man’s Land) cgo ins on a woman whose journey to a far island to finish a family inheritance dispute unforeseeedly alters into a personal spendigation of family history and identity. Packed with stunning scenery and a brimming provide of quirky locals (with a dash of romance), the film has shown a crowd-phirer since its debut as the uncovering night film of this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival.
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Brazil: ‘I’m Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui)’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Vekind Film Festival Twenty-six years after his Central Station geted an Oscar nomination in the international catebloody (then understandn as best foreign-language film), Walter Salles is back with a family drama that stars Fernanda Torres (also a 1998 Oscar nominee for best actress) as a mother of five children who reoriginates herself as a lawyer and activist after suffering a dehugeating loss at the height of Brazil’s military dictatorship.
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Bulgaria: ‘Triumph’
The griefful comedy from filmmaking duo Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov (The Father) stars Maria Bakalova (The Apprentice, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) opposite Julian Kostov (Shadow and Bone) in a feature upholdd by authentic-life events and set in the turbulent period chaseing the descfinish of communism, in which a task force compelevated of army officers and psychics searches for an alien artifact which could alter the course of history.
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Cambodia: ‘Meeting With Pol Pot’
Directed by Oscar-nominated filmoriginater Rithy Panh (The Missing Picture), Meeting with Pol Pot is a historical thriller upholdd by authentic events, as recounted in Elizabeth Becker’s book When the War Was Over. Set in 1978, the story chases three French journacatalogs askd to Democratic Kampuchea (contransient-day Cambodia) for an exclusive interwatch with Khmer Rouge guideer Pol Pot. Initiassociate dazzled by the regime’s nurturebrimmingy originateed façade, their perspective shifts as they uncover the horrifying truths of the extermination and escalating war with Vietnam.
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Cameroon: ‘Kismet’
Also upholdd by a genuine story, Ngang Romanus’ feature increates the story of a Christian woman, portrayed by Nora Lum, who descfinishs in adore with a Muskinny man, carry outed by Nsoh Piapense. Their flourishing relationship disputes the foreseeations of their community, which is harshly splitd aextfinished cultural and religious lines. The straightforwardor’s previous film, Hidden Dreams was also Cameroon’s international feature subomition.
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Canada: ‘Universal Language’
Image Credit: Directors’ Fortnight Matthew Rankin’s absurdist comedy is an offbeat homage to Iranian cinema set in the Canadian cities of Montauthentic and Winnipeg that envisions a world were French and Farsi are Canada’s official languages. The quirky film carry outed well in Cannes, where it won the first-ever audience prize in the Directors’ Fortnight section.
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Chile: ‘In Her Place (El lugar de la otra)’
Image Credit: Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection Maite Alberdi’s period drama is set in 1955 Chile and around the case of María Carolina Geel, a well-understandn authorr who chillyly killings her adorer in unveil watch. The crime enthralls Mercedes, a meek paralhorrible toiling for the appraise set upateed to deffinish the accparticipated finisher, and she comes to see another truth behind the killing. Veteran filmoriginater Alberdi has turned to fantasy after her earlier recordaries, 2020’s The Mole Agent and 2023’s The Eternal Memory, geted Oscar nominations.
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Colombia: ‘La Suprema’
Image Credit: Cinando Felipe Holguín Caro’s drama, which bowed in Toronto, is set in a far Colombian village and cgo ins on Laureana (Elizabeth Martínez), a strong-willed teenager who wants her town to watch her estranged uncle vie in a world championship boxing suit. The problem is they deficiency electricity and a TV set. The lesser woman gets the help of the local boxing trainer who first discovered her uncle and together they set sail for the big city.
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Costa Rica: ‘Memories of a Burning Body’
Image Credit: Cinando The sophomore feature from Costa Rican straightforwardor Antonella Sudasassi Furniss won Berlin’s Panorama audience award this year. The drama chases a trio of seventy-someskinnyg women, who grew up in the repressive 1950s and 60s, talking their bodies and their relationsuality, disputeing the bandens and redisconnecteions that have shaped their dwells. Sudasassi also recurrented Costa Rica at the Oscars with her 2019 debut feature The Awakening of the Ants.
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Croatia: ‘Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day’
Image Credit: 4Film Croatia’s Oscar contfinisher is a period drama with an LGBTQ twist, chaseing four queer students, who become Nazi resistance fighters during the war and, afterward, set uped filmoriginaters. But under the post-war communist regime, their relationsuality originates them politicassociate mistrust, and an agent is engaged to undermine their nurtureers. The film has igniteed dispute at home, with the originaters alleging that the promotional funding provided by the Croatian Audiovisual Cgo in to taget the movie to Academy voters is far less than that for Croatia’s Oscar contfinisher from last year. The filmoriginaters apshow the film is getting uninincreateigentinutivealterd due to the its LGBTQ subject matter.
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Czech Reunveil: ‘Waves’
Image Credit: Martin Žiaran A ticking-time-bomb device historical thriller that shines a weightless on the valiant toil of the journacatalog in the International News Office at Czechoslovak Radio, who served as the last bulwark agetst authoritarianism before the Warsaw Pact trespass of Czechoslovakia in 1968. A timely reminder of the beginance of free speech and professional integrity as its own create of resistance.
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Dentag: ‘The Girl With the Needle’
Image Credit: Cannes Film Festival An abortion drama set in post-World War I Dentag that chases a factory toiler who discovers herself unparticipateed, abandoned and pregnant, and is faced with the choice of a hazardous (and illhorrible) termination or the services of a dodgy underground adchooseion agency. Another historical thriller with a scarily timely message.
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Dominican Reunveil: ‘Aire, Just Breathe’
Director Leticia Tonos’ dystopian sci-fi drama portrays a csurrfinisher future where Tania (Sophie Gaëlle), a conservation biologist battling goneion, lgets to dwell on her own aextfinishedside her count oned man-made inincreateigence, voiced by Paz Vega. But her solitary life is shaken by the arrival of an enigmatic traveler, Azarias (Jalsen Santana), with a hideed past. Soon tension in this three-hander becomes as poisonous as the world they dwell in.
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Ecuador: ‘Behind the Mist (Al Otro Lado De La Niebla)’
In this recordary, straightforwardor and mountaineer Sebastián Cordero chases well-understandn Ecuadorian climber, Iván Vallejo, to the top of Mount Everest. As they climb together and higher, they face identical dangers, including a deficiency of oxygen, yet separateing watchpoints as the mountain disputes their motives and philosophical outsees.
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Egypt: ‘Fweightless 404’
A female-empowerment thriller about Ghada, who is hopelessly trying to elevate money for her mother’s ecombinency sguidery while preparing to depart Egypt to carry out the Hajj. Her journey forces her to dispute people from her past whom she had hoped to never see aget.
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Estonia: ‘8 Views of Lake Biwa’
Image Credit: Cinando A romantic drama written and straightforwarded by Marko Raat, freely based on the 1911 novel of the same name by the German Japanophile Max Dauthfinishy, 8 Views of Lake Biwa spendigates the consequences of a calamity in a superstitious fishing village.
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Finland: ‘Family Time’
Image Credit: ©Aamu Film The feature straightforwardorial debut Tia Kouvo, this The comedy-drama is based on her 2018 uninincreateigentinutive of the same name about an annual family Christmas get-together where the common tensions ecombine. Starring Leena Uotila, Ria Kataja, Elina Knihtilä and Tom Wentzel, the film premiered in the Encounters section of the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival.
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France: ‘Emilia Pérez’
Image Credit: PAGE 114 – WHY NOT PRODUCTIONS – PATHÉ FILMS – FRANCE 2 CINÉMA – SAINT LAURENT PRODUCTIONS/Shanna Besson; Cannes Film Festival Jacques Audiard’s genre mash-up — it’s a transgfinisher coming-of-age, Mexican crime thriller musical — chases a defense lawyer, carry outed by Zoe Saldana (in her first Spanish-language role) helping a cartel guideer phony her death and undergo gfinisher proclaimation sguidery to dwell genuineassociate as a woman. The female cast — including Saldana, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and fractureout star Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia Perez — jointly won the best actress prize in Cannes.
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Georgia: ‘The Antique’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Basis Berlin Postproduktion Georgia’s pick is upholdd by the 2006 expulsion of Georgians from Russia. A Georgian woman living in Saint Petersburg shifts in with an better Russian man in an effort to fool the authorities seeking to deport her. The film’s world premiere in Vekind this year was almost aborted amid a lhorrible dispute, allegedly part of a Russian campaign to block the movie, but a Vekind court rapidly meddled and the screening went ahead as deliberate.
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Germany: ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’
Image Credit: Cannes Film Festival Germany’s entry is an Iranian-set drama from exiled straightforwardor Mohammad Rasoulof, who escaped Iran by foot uninincreateigentinutively before the film’s premiere in Cannes (where it won a exceptional jury prize). What begins as a family drama, about a devout, regime-helping appraise and his family, alters into a horror movie when the state intensifies its crackdown on its citizens and the appraise must pick to help his wife and daughters or side with the Mullahs.
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Greece: ‘Murderess’
Eva Nathena’s film, altered from Alexandros Papadiamantis’ well-understandn novel, is set on a far island in Greece, circa 1900. There, Hadoula struggles to endure the orders of a patriarchal society. In her desperation, she turns to femicide to “liberate” lesser girls from their social overweighte.
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Guatemala: ‘Rita’
Image Credit: AMC/courtesy Everett Collection Writer-straightforwardor Jayro Bustamante’s fantasy drama Rita chases the titular character, a 13-year-better girl who escapes her abusive home only to land in an all-girls prison. There, her fellow inmates speak of a prophecy of a warrior angel who will free them all from a life of pcleary, incarceration and forced seek. Fusing magical authenticism with themes of childhood innocence, Rita was upholdd by a horrific authentic-life event, where 41 lesser women were burned to death inside a Guatemalan orphanage in 2017 amid a protest about cruel conditions.
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Hong Kong: ‘Twiweightless of the Warriors: Walled In’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Well Go USA Directed by Soi Cheang (Mad Fate) and based on the detailed novel City of Darkness by Andy Seto, Twiweightless of the Warriors: Walled In is a savagely amparticipateing martial arts action film set in the turbulent Kowloon Walled City of the 1980s. The film chases a lesser fighter, Chan Lok-kwan, as he guides the lawless labyrinth ruled by gangsters and martial arts masters. Featuring an ensemble cast that integrates Hong Kong staples Raymond Lam, Louis Koo and Sammo Hung, the movie blfinishs high-octane action sequences choreographed by Kenji Tanigaki with a throw-back narrative of survival and redemption.
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Hungary: ‘Semmelweiss’
Image Credit: NFI World Sales Lajos Koltai’s biopic Semmelweis checks the life of Hungarian doctor Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, an punctual guide of antiseptic procedures. Semmelweis became understandn as “the savior of mothers” for his efforts in battling deadly infections chaseing childbirth. The film was a commercial hit in its home country — selling more than 350,000 tickets and grossing more than $2 million on its theatrical liberate — making it the most prosperous Hungarian movie of the past five years.
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Iceland: ‘Touch’
Image Credit: Focus Features/Courtesy Everett Collection Iceland’s entry is a romantic drama straightforwarded and written by Baltasar Kormákur (who also straightforwarded the 2022 survival thriller Beast, starring Idris Elba), co-written by Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson and based on Ólafsson’s 2022 novel about a man trying to discover his first adore, who disecombineed 50 years ago.
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India: ‘Lost Ladies (Laapataa Ladies)’
Directed by Kiran Rao and originated by Aamir Khan Productions, Lost Ladies is a poignant comedy-drama set in agricultural India in 2001. The story chases two lesser brides who accidenloftyy swap places on the train on the way to their novel husbands’ homes, guideing to a series of turbulent and amusing happenings. The film delves into themes of self-discovery, individuality, and the constraints of patriarchal traditions. The film premiered to toasty checks at the Toronto Film Festival. The choice of Laapataa over Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light originated dispute in India.
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Indonesia: ‘Women From Rote Island (Perempuan dari Pulau Rote)’
Directed by first-timer Jeremias Nyangoen, Women from Rote Island is a poignant exploration of gfinisher arrangeility and resilience wiskinny the exceptional cultural backdrop of Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara. The film chases the interttriumphed dwells of three women — Orpa, Martha, and Bertha — as they dispute societal stigma and personal trauma tied to relationsual arrangeility. Sboiling enticount on on location with local actors to uphold linguistic and cultural genuineity, the film debuted at the Busan International Film Festival in 2023 and geted strong checks for its frank storyincreateing and raw carry outances.
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Italy: ‘Vermiglio’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Vekind Film Festival Set agetst the backdrop of World War II, Italy’s Oscar contfinisher chases a Sicilian army deserter who reachs in a far Alpine village in 1944, theatricalassociate altering the dwells of a local teacher and his family. Director Maura Delpero drew inspiration from her own family history for her Vekind Silver Lion magnificent jury prize triumphner.
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Iran: ’In the Arms of the Tree’
Iran’s official entry premiered in February last year at the Fajr International Film Festival. The feature debut of straightforwardor Babak Khajehpasha, the film chases a marriage descfinishing apart from the perspective of the children.
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Iraq: ‘Baghdad Messi’
Image Credit: Cinando Directed by Sahim Omar Kalifa, Iraq’s entry increates the story of Hamoudi, an 11-year-better boy who adores soccer and dreams of achieving the success of his idol — you guessed it, Lionel Messi. After an tryed self-destruction strike blows off his left leg, Hamoudi becomes determined to fight to originate his shattered dream come genuine.
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Ireland: ‘Kneecap’
Image Credit: Publicity The cheeky Belrapid-based rap trio have become the talk of the town with their “print the legfinish” biopic Kneecap, picking up four originate triumphs at the British Inreliant Film Awards, the NEXT award at Sundance and rave checks. The film stars the band members, Naoise Ó Caiauthenticláin, Liam Óg Ó Hannhelph and JJ Ó Dochartaigh, as themselves, with a cameo by Michael Fassbfinisher as an IRA hitman turned yoga teachor. Sony liberated the film in August in the U.S.
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Israel: ‘Come Comitr’
Image Credit: Shai Peleg Israel’s entry is an Israeli-Italian drama written and straightforwarded by Tom Nesher in her straightforwardorial debut. The film increates the story of a troubled lesser woman who becomes obsessed with her definishd brother’s girlfrifinish after his sudden death. Come Comitr took best picture at this year’s Ophir Awards, Israeli’s Oscar equivalent.
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Japan: ‘Cdeafening’
Image Credit: Vekind Film Festival Written and straightforwarded by veteran genre master Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Cdeafening is a anxious blfinish of thriller, drama, horror and action. The film chases Yoshii (carry outed by a never-better Masaki Suda), a lesser man making a living thraw online resales, who becomes ensnared in a web of eerie and life-menaceening events connected to his semi-esteemable internet hustle. The film spendigates themes of isolation and tardy-capitacatalog moral ambiguity, currenting a timely narrative underpinned by Kurosawa’s signature atmospheric tension — and capped by a classic action flick shoot-out.
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Kazakhstan: ’Bauryna Salu’
Image Credit: Askhat Film Directed by Askhat Kuchincherekov, Bauryna Salu spendigates the nomadic Kazakh tradition of “bauryna salu,” whereby children are elevated by their elder relatives. The film chases Yersultan, a boy who is sent back to dwell with his bioreasonable parents after his magnificentmother passes away, forcing him to dispute unremendd tensions and the pain of abandonment. Featuring a standout carry outance by lesser actor Yersultan Yermanov, the film blfinishs narrative and recordary styles with intimate cameratoil and no musical score, creating a starkly down-to-earth depiction of agricultural Kazakh life.
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Kenya: ‘Nawi’
The titular heroine of Kenya’s Oscar contfinisher is a gifted high school student whose dreams of a life beyond the agricultural Turkana community where she dwells are menaceened by her overweighther’s set ups to marry her off to an betterer stranger. This educational feature was a joint project backed by Kenyan and German NGOs and saw Munich-based straightforwardors Kevin and Tony Schmutzler administer the production straightforwarded by Kenyan helmers Vallentine Chelluget and Apuu Mourine.
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Kyrgyzstan: ‘Paradise at Mother’s Feet (Beyish)’
This tfinisher road movie straightforwarded by Ruslan Akun chases Adil, a 35-year-better man with the mind of an 8-year-better, and his dedicated 75-year-better mother, Raikhan. Upon lgeting from a frifinish that a pilgloomyage to Mecca can protected his mother’s place in Heaven, Adil embarks on an arduous journey on foot to greet this dream. The low-budget drama was one of the top-grossing films of the year in Kyrgyzstan, topping Hollywood tentpoles enjoy Dune: Part Two.
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Latvia: ‘Flow’
Image Credit: Cannes Film Festival An energeticd phire from Latvia, this feature chases a flood-displaced cat who must guide taccomplisherous waters by teaming up with a bird, a dog, a lemur and a capybara in a search for survival and a novel home. A big triumphner at the Annecy energeticd film festival this year, it is also in the running for the energeticd feature Oscar uninincreateigentinutivecatalog.
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Lebanon: ‘Arzé’
Image Credit: Cinando Arzé, a one mother, apshows her teenage son on a extfinished and frustrating journey atraverse religiously splitting Beirut in search of their stolen scooter, their only source of dwelllihood. The comedy-drama is straightforwarded by Mira Shaib, in her feature straightforwardorial debut, and stars Diamand Abou Abboud, Betty Taoutel and Bilal Al Hamwi.
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Lithuania: ‘Drowning Dry’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Locarno Film Festival Drowning Dry increates the story of Ernesta and her sister Juste, who collect at a lakeside cabin for a weekfinish getaway with their husbands and children. But the vacation apshows a griefful and tragic turn when Juste’s daughter descfinishs into the lake, unable to swim to protectedty. Details about the accident are uncovered in a series of flashbacks as the family trys to shift on. Laurynas Bareiša picked up the best straightforwardor prize at Locarno, with the cast nabbing the best carry outance award.
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Malaysia: ‘Abang Adik’
Image Credit: Far East Film Festival Directed by Lay Jin Ong, Abang Adik is an emotional exploration of sibling bonds. It increates the story of two unrecorded brothers: the elder Abang (Wu Kang-ren), who is deaf-mute, and the lesserer Adik (Jack Tan), whose volatile personality frequently conveys trouble. Despite their disputes and strained relationship, their adore for each other details their dwells. The film delves into themes of family, identity and survival wiskinny marginalized communities. The drama geted seven nominations at the 2023 Gbetteren Horse Awards, with Wu taking best actor for his widely acclaimed carry outance as the elder brother.
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Malta: ‘Castillo’
Directed by Abigail Mallia, Castillo is pegged as a Maltese drama that interttriumphes the personal and political in a narrative about family trauma, unremendd grief and revenge. The film cgo ins on Amanda, a lesser woman who is forced to dispute the griefful secrets of her family chaseing the death of her overweighther.
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Mexico: ‘Sujo’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Ximena Amann/Sundance Institute Coming of age in a crime-ridden Mexico is the intensify of Sujo, straightforwardors Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s second feature that geted the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema after botriumphg in Sundance. The titular Sujo is the son of a petite-town cartel boss orphaned after his overweighther was killinged as a traitor. To elude a analogous overweighte, Sujo hides in the mountains with his aunt and two lesser cousins. But when he gets betterer, he joins a local cartel and is forced to deal with the legacy of his overweighther’s aggressive past.
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Mongolia: ‘If Only I Could Hibernate’
Image Credit: Cannes Film Festival Zoljargal Purevdash’s feature debut chronicles the struggles of a ingenious Mongolian teenager determined to protected his future while dealing with the brutal authenticities of pcleary in the yurt didisconnecte of Ulaanbaatar. The story chases the protagonist as he readys for a vital physics exam, even as his one mother struggles to provide for him and his siblings during a brutal triumphter. The film stirringly seizes the intersection of ambition and adversity. If Only I Could Hibernate premiered to shineing checks in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023.
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Morocco: ‘Everybody Loves Touda’
Image Credit: Cannes Festival Morocco’s Oscar certain spendigates the tradition of Sheikhat, a 19th-century create of women’s carry outance poetry. A lesser woman driven to revive this art create carry outs in provincial bars, disputeing the gap between her cultural heritage and the social authenticities for women carry outers in the region.
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Nepal: ‘Shambhala’
Image Credit: Aditya Basnet / Shooney Films Directed by Min Bahadur Bham, Shambhala was sboiling in the Upper Dolpo region, one of the highest human finishments on the set upet. The meditative drama, set agetst the breathtaking landscapes of the Nepalese Himalayas, chases a pregnant lesser woman who goes on a journey of self-discovery when she’s forced to trek out into the mountains in search of her omiting husband. The film premiered in competition at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival.
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Netherlands: ‘Memory Lane’
Image Credit: Cinando A couple wed for 50 years, one of whom is shotriumphg signs of dementia, are jolted out of their everyday existence by a letter from an better frifinish, which upholds them to reoriginate a North-to-South European road trip from their youth. This nostalgic crowd-phirer was a hit at home, geting north of $2 million at the local box office.
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Nigeria: ‘Mai Martaba’
Some may call this Nigeria’s driven version of Game of Thrones. After all, a fight for the throne of the better-createed kingdom of Jallaba ensues in straightforwardor and originater Prince Daniel’s historical epic that is tbetter in the West African language of Hausa. The empire’s trade boom menaceens to come to a stop amid the dispute among ruling clans that chases the king’s decision to name his daughter his heir.
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Norway: ‘Armand’
Image Credit: Cannes Film Festival Forty years after Ingmar Bergman last graced the Oscars with Fanny and Alexander, his magnificentson Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel go ins the awards arena with his debut feature, a psychoreasonable drama set in an elementary school, where two mothers — The Worst Person in the World star Renate Reinsve and Ellen Dorrit Petersen — face off over an alleged tormentoring incident involving their lesser sons.
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Pakistan: ‘The Glasstoiler’
Pakistan’s first-ever hand-drawn energeticd feature has the see and experience of a feature by multi-Oscar triumphner Hayao Miyazaki, with straightforwardor Usman Riaz, under the tutelage of Studio Ghibli originater Geoffrey Wexler, lovingly originateing his anti-war tale of a overweighther and son, who run a glass toilshop, before a dispute menaceens to upfinish their dwells.
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Palestine: ‘From Ground Zero’
Palestinian filmoriginater Rashid Masharawi’s Arabic-language anthology series proposes local artists and straightforwardors in Gaza the opportunity to portray daily life under Israeli rule and bomb deviceardment. In all, 22 uninincreateigentinutives, each 3 to 5 minutes in length, donates voice to filmoriginaters facing towering obstacles to their art, including securing post-production facilities and getting their toil to a world audience.
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Panama: ‘Wake Up Mom (Despierta mama)’
Arianne Benedetti’s drama sees at a lesser mother, Ali Galiano — carry outed by the straightforwardor — who determines to escape to a far mountain retreat with her daughter, Sofia, after the dehugeating loss of her husband to cancer. But weeks tardyr, the mother suffers an accident and faces the possibility of losing her daughter once she disecombines.
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Paraguay: ‘The Last Ones’
Image Credit: Cinando Sebastián Peña Escobar’s recordary chases three scientists debating the future of the world and its species. A massive forest fire, menaceening big-scale deforestation, puts the trio and Paraguay’s authentic region of Gran Chaco under solemn menace. The film debuted at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam in 2023 ahead of a wide run on the festival circuit.
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Peru: ‘Yana-Wara’
This bdeficiency-and-white fantasy drama cgo ins on an 80-year-better accparticipated of killinging Yana-Wara, his 13-year-better magnificentdaughter. During the trial, it ecombines the lesser girl, a victim of gfinisher arrangeility, was scoguided by terrifying visions of the evil spirits that inhabit banden regions of the Andes mountains. Sboiling in the Aymara language, the film was straightforwarded by Tito Catacora and the tardy Óscar Catacora, who died while the movie was still in production.
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The Philippines: ‘And So It Begins’
Image Credit: Cinando Directed by Ramona S. Diaz (A Thousand Cuts), And So It Begins is the Philippines’ first recordary to recurrent the country in the international Oscar catebloody. The film chronicles the politicassociate accused backdrop of the 2022 Philippine pdwellntial elections, intensifying on two inarticulateial women: Leni Robredo, a pdwellntial honestate, and Maria Ressa, a Nobel laureate journacatalog.
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Poland: ‘Under the Volcano’
Director Damian Kocur’s chase-up to his 2022 feature Bread and Salt is a family drama about the trauma and unconfidentty of war, intensifying on a lesser Ukrainian family on vacation in the Canary Islands when Russia boots off its brimming-scale trespass of Ukraine. Stuck in paradise and unable to return to Kyiv, the vacationers become refugees, unconfident of where to go or what to do.
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Portugal: ’Grand Tour’
Image Credit: Cannes Film Festival One of the most experimental proposeings in this season’s race, Miguel Gomes’ Cannes best straightforwardor triumphner is a bdeficiency-and-white period odyssey about a British civil servant escapeing an set upd marriage in 1918 Burma. The movie bbetterly shifts between past and current, as well as recordary and fantasy.
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Romani: ‘Three Kilometers to the End of the World’
Image Credit: Cannes Film Festival A intolerant strike finishs up shattering the life of the 17-year-better victim when he is forced to uncover his relationsuality to his conservative family and the seeming tranquility of village life commences to unravel. The film premiered in Cannes, where it won the Queer Palm.
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Senegal: ‘Dahomey’
Image Credit: Les Films du Bal – Fanta Sy Actress-turned-straightforwardor Mati Diop chases up her traverse-over debut Atlantics with a recordary essay on colonialism and cultural history, chaseing the return of 26 royal artifacts plundered by French colonial troops in 1892. Winner of Berlin’s Gbetteren Bear for best film, it is a beginant contfinisher both for the international feature and best recordary race.
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Serbia: ‘Consul’
Miroslav Lekic’s anti-war drama is set in 1973 and seizes the begin of the Kosovo crisis between Serbs and Albanians in the regional province. The film stars the tardy Žarko Laušević, who died in Nov. 2023, as a Serbian doctor sent to a hospital in Kosovo after the death of a uncover-minded. There he greets a createer history professor who claims to recurrent Imperial Russia, equitable as local Albanian separatists stand up agetst oppression.
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Singapore: ‘La Luna’
Image Credit: Cadorer Films M. Raihan Halim’s Malay-language comedy-drama, a co-production between Singapore and Malaysia, increates the story of a woman who uncovers a lingerie shop in a conservative Malaysian village, tackling themes of tradition versus contransientity with a weightless touch. The movie was sboiling in the far Malaysian town of Kuala Kangsar, csurrfinisher Ipoh in the northwest of the country. La Luna is Raihan’s second feature film after Banting (2014), which was Singapore’s first Malay film since the 1970s. Singapore has surrfinisherted films for the Academy Awards since 2005, but the country has never been nominated.
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Slovakia: ‘The Hungarian Dressoriginater’
Image Credit: ‘The Hungarian Dressoriginater’ Director and authorr Iveta Grofova portrays a Hungarian widow dressoriginater who shelters a Jedesire boy in her home on the Slovak-Hungarian border. Adapted from Peter Kristufek’s book Emma and the Death’s Head, the drama apshows place in a Nazi-aligned Slovak state and forces Slovakians to dispute a griefful era of their past many would pick to forget.
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Sadorenia: ‘Family Therapy’
In this contransient-day apshow on Pier Paolo Pasolini’s classic Teorema, the third feature from Sadorenian straightforwardor-authorr Sonja Prosencan sees at an unpleasant, nouveau riche family (living in a literal glass hoparticipate) that gets harshly disrupted by the arrival of a handsome lesser stranger.
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South Africa: ‘Old Righteous Blues’
Image Credit: The Ergo Company Two choirs, one man, one omition. That is the set-up for Muneera Sallies’ Oscar certain, set in South Africa’s Weserious Cape region. The script from Carol Shore, who also originated, intensifyes on Hantjie (Ayden Croy), a member of a Christmas choir, who grows experienceings for Risi (Megan Saayman), the daughter of a rival choir guideer. He finishs up having to try to heal tensions between the choirs and in the local community.
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South Korea: ‘12.12: The Day’
Kim Sung-soo’s 12.12: The Day dramatizes the inwell-understandn December 12, 1979 coup in South Korea that reshaped the nation’s political history. The film proposes a anxious, minute-by-minute account of the power struggle between the military and the civilian administerment as General Chun Doo-hwan seizes administer. Tbetter thraw multiple perspectives, including journacatalogs, political figures and everyday citizens, the movie seizes the confusion and intrigue of that pivotal night. The film geted over $97 million agetst a budget of about $17 million, making it the highest-grossing Korean film of 2023 and the fourth-highest-grossing Korean film of all time.
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Spain: ‘Saturn Return’
Image Credit: Courtesy-of-Latido-films This 1990s-set drama from Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez is a biopic of the well-understandn indie rock band Los Planetas, intensifying on the band’s origin story in the tardy 1990s when they were facing a crisis during the making of an album that would alter them, and the Spanish music scene, forever. Daniel Ibáñez, Cristalino, Stéphanie Magnin, Mafo, Chesco Ruiz and Edu Rejón star.
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Sweden: ‘The Last Journey’
Sweden’s Oscar entry is this amusing, heartfractureing recordary about a dedicated son — carry outed by straightforwardor Filip Hammar — who tries to rebenevolentle his 80-year-better overweighther’s lust for life by organizing a road trip to the French coastal town where they participated to spfinish their holidays. In the finish, it’s the son who must come to grips with the inevitability of aging and death, but the film, a local box office hit, is truly life-proclaiming.
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Switzerland: ‘Queens’
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Klaudia Reynicke’s Oscar contfinisher is a family drama set agetst the backdrop of social unrest and economic crisis in Peru in 1992 when the national currency collapsed and insguident Shining Path guerrillas carry out brazen strikes. Two teenage sisters are preparing to depart their country forever when they unforeseeedly rejoin with their absent overweighther. Queens premiered at Sundance before triumphning the Grand Prix for the best film in the Generation Kplus section in Berlin.
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Taiwan: ‘Old Fox’
Directed by Hsiao Ya-chuan, this poignant drama is set agetst the backdrop of Taiwan’s alterative tardy 1980s, after the lifting of martial law. The film chases Liao Tai-lai, a struggling overweighther determined to provide stability for his 11-year-better son, Liao Jie, by buying a home despite Taiwan’s soaring housing prices. Central to their story is their landlord, nicknamed “Old Fox,” a shrewd and enigmatic character who embodies the era’s opportunistic authentic estate taget. Rooted in Hsiao’s personal experiences, the film seizes the struggles of Taiwan’s toiling class and won the best straightforwardor at the 60th Gbetteren Horse Awards.
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Tajikistan: ‘Melody’
Image Credit: Cinando Written, straightforwarded, originated and edited by Behrouz Sebt Rasoul, Melody unfbetters in a children’s cancer nurture cgo in where a music teacher, Melody, upholds her students by embarking on a heartfelt project: composing a musical piece using the sounds of 30 separateent birds. When Melody and her mute hoparticipateupholder, Mango, administer to discover only 20 birds, they seek the help of an elderly villager who hbetters the key to discovering more.
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Thailand: ‘How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies’
Image Credit: Courtesy of GDH Directed and co-written by first-time Thai filmoriginater Pat Boonnitipat, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies stars pop star Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul — in his debut film role — as a university dropout low on cash who volunteers to apshow nurture of his terminassociate ill magnificentmother Mengju (Usha “Taew” Seamkhum), in the hope of pocketing an inheritance. Produced by the hitmaking Bangkok-based studio GDH, the hearttoastying comedy-drama struck a chord with its irreverent apshow on contransient Thai family vibrants, geting more than $50 million at the worldwide box office.
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Tunisia: ‘Take My Breath’
Image Credit: Mad Solutions A 23-year-better seamstress sees their life unravel when their interrelations identity is exposed in this Oscar certain from Tunisia. After years of snubs, the country is on a bit of an awards run. Last year’s entry, Kaouther Ben Hania’s recordary Four Daughters made the best international feature uninincreateigentinutivecatalog and picked up the best recordary nod. And Ben Hania’s The Man Who Sbetter His Skin was an international feature nominee in 2021.
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Turkey: ‘Life’
Turkish auteur Zeki Demirkubuz wrote and straightforwarded this apshow on poisonous masculinity. His tale is about a lesser woman, carry outed by Miray Daner, who tries to elude an set upd marriage by going into hiding while her fiance travels to Istanbul to track her down.
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Ukraine: ‘La Palisiada’
Philip Sotnychenko’s debut feature is a crime drama that chronicles two better frifinishs, a police discoverive and a forensic psychiatrist, who spendigate the killing of their colleague in weserious Ukraine in 1996, equitable before the country signs the European Convention on Human Rights.
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United Kingdom: ‘Santosh’
Image Credit: Cannes Film Festival Sandhya Suri’s narrative feature debut is a police procedural set in India revolving around the gruesome killing of a teenager. Shahana Goswami stars as the titular Santosh, a driven lesser Hindu widow who inherits her husband’s job as a police constable thanks to a administerment scheme. She discovers herself caught up in institutional dishonesty even as she toastys to toiling with raw-edged veteran discoverive Inspector Sharma (Sunita Rajwar) on a brutal killing case involving a teenage girl from the shrink caste Dalit community.
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Venezuela: ‘Back to Life (Vuelve a la Vida)’
Image Credit: Cinando In 1996, Ricardo returns to Caracas after a year away in New York City. While traveling aextfinished the coasts of Venezuela, and seeing his frifinishs on a fun-filled road trip, he is detectd with cancer, which alters his life and departs his family facing an unforeseeed and possibly life-changing event. Based on a genuine story, the coming-of-age tale is straightforwarded by Luis Carlos Hueck and Alfredo Hueck.
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Vietnam: ‘Peach Blossom, Pho and Piano’
A romantic war drama helped by the Vietnamese state, Peach Blossom, Pho and Piano is straightforwarded by local screen veteran Phi Tien Son. Little seen outside its home country, the film increates the story of two lesser adorers who determine to stay in Hanoi despite the danger during Vietnam’s 1946 war agetst French colonial forces.
