‘Emilia Perez’ Has France Poised to Win the International Feature Oscar — Could Another Country Pull Off an Upset?
variety.comGuy Lodge Film Critic “Waterdrop”Director: Robert BudinCountry: AlbaniaBudina’s feature debut “Agon” was Albania’s 2013 submission.
His fourth feature, “Waterdrop,” premiered internationally at Warsaw. It tells the story of a city hall manager, who faces inner turmoil when her teenage son is involved in a rape scandal. “Algiers”Director: Chakib Taleb-BendiabCountry: AlgeriaA thriller in which a psychiatrist and a police inspector investigate a young girl’s disappearance in the country’s capital.
Taleb-Bendiab’s film won top honors at the Rhode Island Film Festival. “Kill the Jockey”Director: Luis OrtegaCountry: ArgentinaOrtega’s second Argentine Oscar submission — after 2018’s “El Angel” — is an offbeat deadpan comedy following a dissolute jockey on a transformative journey of self-discovery.
It premiered in competition at Venice. “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev”Director: Edgar BaghdasaryanCountry: ArmeniaBaghdasaryan’s last film, “Lengthy Night,” was Armenia’s 2019 submission; his follow-up is an absurdist political comedy about a retired Armenian, nostalgic for the Soviet Union, who retreats into his imagination. “The Devil’s Bath”Director: Veronika Franz and Severin FialaCountry: AustriaAwarded at Berlin for its stunning cinematography, Franz and Fiala’s first Austrian feature since 2014’s Oscar-submitted horror “Goodnight Mommy” is a sobering, fact-based historical drama of female depression and abuse.
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