List of submissions for Best International Film 2022.

Thierry strikes again.

I would be truly shocked. Any particular reason, or just a hunch?

Just chiming in from Norway: Verdens verste menneske just premiered here this Friday and the opening weekend BO numbers are Trier's best yet. It's being praised to high heavens by everyone, and is currently the #2 movie in the country, behind only No Time to Die. It's the clear frontrunner for the submission, and the only upset I could see happening is if the committee goes for another Holocaust movie.

I would kill for the Oscar lineup to include Lamb and Titane.

In a plot twist, Mexico selects Prayers for the Stolen about the aftermaths of drug trafficking, poverty, etc... It won a special prize last July at the Cannes Flm Festival. Haven't seen it but the work of the director has always felt indulgent to me, gives a Malickian/poetic edge to the miserabilism.

There was another movie, The Wolves, about the immigrant experience seen through kids while mom is at work that I think would've been more easy on voters...

Congratulations on your Oscar, Norway.

Hot take: I think Reinsve might have a stronger case for a Best Actress nomination this year than Cruz.

Cruz's past winner status definitely is a massive boon in her favor, but I think Reinsve is BAFTA catnip more than Cruz, and we can at least guarantee voters are going to watch The Worst Person in the World. Neon already has Stewart in their camp and might commit all of their energy towards her campaign, so that might hurt Reinsve, but I dunno, I got a feeling on this one.

Honestly, I think it's going to be a knife-fight in Best Actress this year that we're not going to know what the fuck is happening until the end.

Denmark selects "Flee"

It's certainly crashing the IFF race (and animation).

EDIT: Now all of the Nordic countries have selected films: Flee, The Worst Person in the World, Lamb, Tigers and Compartment Number 6. 

Yeah, I can see all branches nominating it (though documentary is the biggest question mark since they've made pretty surprising choices in the last few years by overlooking docs considered frontrunners or safe), but if the film is nominated in all 3 categories, I don't see general voters giving it win in all 3 categories (in fact it losing all 3 would be more likely). 

Portugal decided to submit A Metamorfose dos Pássaros (The Metamorphosis of Birds), directed by Catarina Vasconcelos. 



A combination of documentary and fiction, the film narrates the love story of the director's grandparents and also approaches the death of her paternal grandmother, based on the childhood and adolescence memories of members of her family. The film departs from those memories, but the director fills some narrative spaces with fiction and with an aesthetic imagery that conjugates painting, photography and staged compositions full of symbolism. 

The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, where it went on to win the FIPRESCI prize (Encounters 2020).  

"Nominations have been unveiled for Spain’s primary film awards, the Goyas, with the Javier Bardem-starring comedy-drama The Good Boss racking up an all-time record of 20 nominations across 17 categories."

Holy sht. Huge outing. Parallel Mothers had only seven noms.  They've been campaigning The Good Boss a bit -- they were at Deadline's Contenders event, etc. But when the hell are the U.S. distrib gonna release it? There's no date........