The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the shortlists for the 2024 Oscars this morning and there were few surprises in the usually competitive International Film category. Despite some top-tier candidates, the overall field was generally considered weaker than usual. That being said, critically acclaimed films including Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” from the United Kingdom (also The Playlist’s no. 1 film of 2023), Ilker Çatak’s “The Teacher’s Lounge” from Germany, and Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” made the cut.
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Other shortlist mentions that have a shot for one of five final nominee slots include Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves” (Finland), Tran Anh Hung’s “The Taste of Things” (France), Lila Aviles’s “Totem” (Mexico), and J.A. Bayona’s “Society of the Snow” (Spain). The latter made a mark on the shortlist overall with four mentions including Sound, Visual Effects, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Visual Effects.
Snubbed submissions include “Do Not Expect Too Much From The End of The World” (Romania), “The Settlers” (Chile), “About Dry Grasses” (Turkey), “Shayda” (Australia), and “The Delinquents” (Argentina).
According to AMPAS submissions from 88 countries and regions were deemed eligible for this year.
As always, Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and needed to watch 13 submissions to be eligible to vote in the category. In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote.
The 15 selected shortlisted films are as follows:
Armenia, “Amerikatsi”
Bhutan, “The Monk and the Gun”
Denmark, “The Promised Land”
Finland, “Fallen Leaves”
France, “The Taste of Things”
Germany, “The Teachers’ Lounge”
Iceland, “Godland”
Italy, “Io Capitano”
Japan, “Perfect Days”
Mexico, “Totem”
Morocco, “The Mother of All Lies”
Spain, “Society of the Snow”
Tunisia, “Four Daughters”
Ukraine, “20 Days in Mariupol”
United Kingdom, “The Zone of Interest”
Oscar nominations voting begins on Thursday, January 11, and ends on Tuesday, January 16. Nominations for the 96th Academy Awards will be announced, once again, at some ungodly hour on Tuesday, January 23. The 96th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 10, and broadcast live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.