Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced significant rule changes impacting the Best International Feature category. In addition to being selected by a country, films can now qualify by winning top prizes at six major international film festivals. What would this new rule have meant in previous years, and how much would it have really affected the Oscars?
First off, here are the eligible film festivals (and their top prizes):
- Berlin International Film Festival (Golden Bear for Best Film)
- Busan International Film Festival (Busan Award — Best Film Award)
- Cannes Film Festival (Palme d’Or)
- Sundance Film Festival (World Cinema Grand Jury Prize)
- Toronto International Film Festival (Platform Award)
- Venice International Film Festival (Golden Lion)
Prior to this new Oscar rule, international features had to be officially chosen by their country of production (or countries, i.e., It Was Just an Accident was jointly produced by France, Luxembourg, and Iran). By forcing a country — or, more specifically an often agenda-driven panel representing the country — to pick a single film, there have been several international contenders that seemed like shoo-ins but were passed over. Prime examples include RRR from India, Portrait of a Lady on Fire from France, and Cannes Grand Prix winner All We Imagine as Light from France and India.
The most glaring recenty omission came in 2023, when France chose not to submit Anatomy of a Fall at the Oscars, which seemed like a surefire contender, opting instead for The Taste of Things. With the new rule in effect, the legal drama would have automatically been in Oscar contention since it won the Palme d’Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Anatomy of a Fall would have easily cracked the Best International Feature lineup, since it received five Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Director for Justine Triet, Best Actress for Sandra Hüller, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Screenplay, winning the latter.
The same goes for last year’s Palme d’Or recipient It Was Just an Accident. There was speculation that it might miss out because Iran would refuse to submit the film because of the government’s opposition to writer-director Jafar Panahi, leaving France or Luxembourg to make it their official entry. In the end, France came through.
This new rule will likely factor into how countries decide which films to shortlist and ultimately submit for the Oscars, particularly with films that do not align with the country’s politics or when there’s bad blood between the nomination committee and filmmakers. (The Akira Kurosawa classic Ran famously was not submitted by Japan in part due to a beef between the auteur and the nominating board.)
Over the years, it has been quite a nail-biter to see if festival winners would be entered by their country when interests might not align. Such was the case last year with Brazil’s The Secret Agent, which seemed to be a no-brainer after winning two prizes at Cannes. However, with the support of Sean Penn and Julia Roberts, Brazil was seriously considering submitting the film Manas — about an Indigenous teen girl who longs to escape her oppressive community in the Amazon rain forest — in favor of the historical political thriller, with its anti-fascist themes.
Ultimately, the country selected The Secret Agent, which wound up nabbing four Oscar nominations including Best Picture. Under the new rules, The Secret Agent would not have have been automatically eligible for Best International Feature consideration based on its wins at Cannes. The film garnered Best Director and Best Actor prizes for Kleber Mendoça Filho and Wagner Moura, but did not win the Palme d’Or. Likewise, this year’s winner for Best International Feature, Norway’s Sentimental Value, would not have automatically qualified, since it won the Grand Prix at Cannes (the runner-up prize), not the Palme d’Or. So while the Academy rule change is a positive step to recognize potentially more international features, only the half-dozen top winners at the respective festivals will benefit.
The announcement of the new rule is timely, with the 2026 Cannes Film Festival kicking off on May 12 and running through May 23. The festival has been a key launching pad for Oscar contenders and this year features films in competitions from Ryusuke Hamaguchi (All of a Sudden), Pedro Almodóvar (Bitter Christmas), Lukas Dhont (Coward), Paweł Pawlikowski (Fatherland), Andrey Zvyagintsev (Minotaur), Asghar Farhadi (Parallel Tales), Hirokazu Kore-eda (Sheep in a Box), and Arthur Harari (The Unknown), all of whom have had their previous films recognized at the Oscars.
Eyes will also be on the other five festivals, particularly Venice and Berlin, as some of their top prize international winners have also signaled what could occur in the international category. Roma won the Golden Lion and A Separation and On Body and Soul won the Golden Bear. It will intriguing to see what emerges from the other three festivals. Although it’s Asia’s largest film festival, Busan is relatively unproven vis-à-vis the Academy Awards and the Academy-sanctioned designation will no doubt raise the festival’s profile among voters. And while Toronto and Sundance have spawned English-language Oscar contenders through the years, their international awards don’t have the same track record. Sundance didn’t begin presenting its award until 2005, and Toronto didn’t start until 2015.
With Berlin and Sundance already in the rearview, the Golden Bear winner Yellow Letters and Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury Prize Dramatic winner Shame and Money will be eligible for Best International Feature. Those victories could also give both movies the visibility to be picked up by a distributor, which would increase their chances.
Oscar season might still months away, but already the race for Best International Feature is in high gear.
