Oscars: Poland Names ‘EO’ as International Feature Entry

Polish auteur’s Jerzy Skolimowski’s latest film, EO, which follows the adventures of a mule who is stubborn and wise and free-spirited, has been chosen by Poland as its contender for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

EO debuted in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize and the Soundtrack Award. The Polish film will also have a North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, before going onto to the New York Film Festival.

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Skolimowski (Deep End, Moonlighting) directed the drama about a nomadic gray donkey named EO. After leaving a traveling circus, EO begins a trek across the Polish and Italian countryside, experiencing cruelty and kindness in equal measure.

On those travels, the donkey meets a cast of characters played by Lorenzo Zurzolo and Isabelle Huppert, among others. Ewa Piaskowska and Skolimowski wrote and produced the movie. Hanway Films is handling world sales. Jeremy Thomas is executive producing.

Puszczyńska, chairman of the Polish Oscars Commission, in a statement said, “EO is emotional, great cinema, it moves and makes you reflect deeply on the condition of the modern world.” The film will be released in the U.S. market by Sideshow and Janus Films.

Sideshow and Janus Films partnered on last year’s Drive My Car, which won the Academy Award for best international feature film last year. Poland has had five Oscar nominations in the last five years, including Cold War by Pawel Pawlikowski and Corpus Christi by Jan Komasa.

The Oscar statuette went the Polish film Ida, directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, in 2014.

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