‘The Taste of Things,’ ‘The Zone of Interest’ Make Heavily European Shortlist in Oscars International Category

The U.K.’s “The Zone of Interest,” France’s “The Taste of Things,” Germany’s “The Teachers’ Lounge” and Spain’s “Society of the Snow” are among the 15 films that will continue to a second round of voting in the Oscar race for Best International Feature Film.

Other films on a very European-centric list include Finland’s “Fallen Leaves,” Denmark’s “The Promised Land,” Italy’s “Io Caitano,” Japan’s “Perfect Days” and three documentaries, Ukraine’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” and Tunisia’s “Four Daughters” and Morocco’s “The Mother of All Lies.”

Overall, nine of the 15 films on the list are European. Three are from Asia, two from Africa and one from the Americas.

For the most part, the highest-profile films advanced in the race, with few surprises on the shortlist. Armenia’s “Amerikatsi” is the closest thing to a dark-horse candidate, with Bhutan’s “The Monk and the Gun” following in the footsteps of director Pawo Choyning Dorji’s last film, “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom,” which was a surprise nominee two years ago.

Eighty-eight films qualified in the category this year. To come up with the shortlist, volunteers from all branches of the Academy were separated into seven separate groups, and each group was assigned 12 or 13 films as required viewing. Members were free to watch as many films as they wanted from outside their group, but they had to watch everything in their group in order for their votes to count.

Voters then listed as many as 15 films in order of preference, with the ranked-choice system used to compile the shortlist. A second round of voting, which is open to all Academy members who watch all 15 shortlisted films, will produce the five nominees.

The voting system, which has been changed repeatedly over the past two decades, now favors the highest-profile films, which clearly draw the most voters and have the best chances to end up on a lot of ballots.

Here is the list of films that are advancing in the race.

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”

See all of the shortlists here:

Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short

Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound

Best Original Score, Best Original Song

Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short

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