Cannes-premiering quartet Emilia Pérez, French box office hit The Count Of Monte Cristo, Misericordia and All We Imagine as Light have made the shortlist for France’s international feature film Oscar submission.
The four films were selected by a recently revamped 11-member selection committee appointed by France’s cultural minister Rachida Dati per a recommendation from national film body CNC, which announced the selection on Wednesday evening.
Former head of Cannes’ Critics’ Week Charles Tesson presides over the selectors, who include producers Patrick Wachsberger, David Thion and Nadim Cheikhroua, sales agents Carole Baraton of Charades and Kinology’s Gregoire Melin, filmmakers Audrey Diwan and Florian Zeller, producer and distributor Rosalie Varda, actress Clémence Poesy, and author-producer and Michèle Halberstadt of ARP Selection.
The committee will reconvene on September 18 to meet with each film’s producers, international sales representatives and US distributors before announcing its final choice of submission as the country endeavuors to win its first award in the category since 1993.
Jacques Audiard’s Mexico-set musical Emilia Pérez won both the Cannes Jury prize for director Audiard and a shared best actress award for its female cast comprising Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana and Adriana Paz.
It has since played at Telluride and Toronto, and heads to New York Film Festival and American French Film Festival in Los Angeles later this autumn.
Netflix has North American and UK rights to the film which is expected compete in other categories besides acting, like director, cinematography, editing and music. Audiard’s A Prophet earned a nomination in the best international feature category in 2010.
The primarily Spanish-language musical drama produced by Why Not Productions and Page 114 is about a Mexican drug lord who decides to become a woman, leaving his family behind and starting a new life.
The Count Of Monte Cristo, directed by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte and produced by Chapter 2 and Pathé Films, is based on Alexandre Dumas’ epic adventure novel and has been a box office smash in France, where it has sold some eight million tickets since its June 28 debut after premiering out of competition in Cannes. Samuel Goldwyn Films is the US distributor.
Payal Kapadia’s India-set co-production All We Imagine As Light became the first Indian film to screen in Cannes Competition in 30 years and won the grand prix.
The drama has played at Telluride and Toronto and will screen at BFI London Film Festival and New York Film Festival. It follows two nurses with troubled relationships in Mumbai who head off on a road trip to a beach town. Petit Chaos produced alongside Chalk & Cheese, Arte France Cinema, Baldr Film, Another Birth, Les Films Fauves, and Pulpa Film. Sideshow and Janus Films hold North American rights.
Sideshow and Janus Films are also releasing Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia, another Cannes premiere that has been doing the rounds on the festival circuit since with stops in Telluride and Toronto, with New York up next.
The genre-bending rural melodrama, crime thriller and dark comedy produced by CG Cinema follows a man who returns to his native town for a funeral, but a mysterious disappearance, a threatening neighbour, and a priest with strange intentions add an unexpected twist to his stay.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will unveil its 15-film shortlist for the best international feature film category on December 17. The five nominees will be announced on January 17, 2025.
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