Venice Film Festival Sets the Stage for the International Oscar Race With ‘Bardo’ and ‘Argentina 1985’
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It’s late summer, so it’s time to start talking about awards season. Cannes issued the first slate of contenders in the international feature Oscar race, and now Venice and Toronto are ready to screen another batch, which begs the question: What looks like the breakout pics from the festival circuit that should contend for kudos?
More than 90 countries have been submitting films for Academy consideration for the past few years, in order to walk away with the coveted best international feature Oscar. Coming off the Cinderella story of Japan’s “Drive My Car” from Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, which was also nominated for three other Oscars including best picture, it became the tenth film to be recognized for both best picture and international feature.
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Can we expect another groundbreaker with this year’s crop of contenders?
Venice, as usual, looks to be loaded with awards contenders, with new works from Darren Aronofsky (“The Whale”), Luca Guadagnino (“Bones & All”) and Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) — but it’s also got a fair share of high-profile international titles, such as Oscar-winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu. He’s back in Venice with “Bardo (or False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths),” from Netflix, which has a strong track record with foreign-language fare during awards season.
Marking Iñárritu’s third showing at Venice after bringing “21 Grams” (2003) and the best picture winner “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” (2014), the Mexican auteur is one of the early favorites to make a splash, in addition to some possible notoriety for its star, Daniel Giménez Cacho as a renowned journalist and documentarian working through an existential crisis. However, shepherding a robust 174-minute runtime, it’ll need to justify its length and compel movie-goers and Academy voters, to give it a chance. Regardless, will be one of Netflix’s top priorities across-the-board, along with the Venice and NYFF opener “White Noise” from Noah Baumbach, the first film ever to open both festivals.
Also at Venice is Santiago Mitre’s “Argentina, 1985,” a courtroom drama that tells the story of lawyers taking on the military dictatorship during the 1980s. With the backing of another streaming giant, Amazon Studios — which had success with the 2018 Polish film “Cold War” — the film could grab awards attention, even in categories such as original screenplay.
Speaking of Poland, Jerzy Skolimowski’s “EO” could be a no-brainer, after getting picked up by Janus Films, and winning the jury and soundtrack prizes (for composer Pawel Mykietyn) at Cannes.
The Croisette, though, is still the first stop for many international feature contenders, like red hot South Korea, which has already selected the Cannes-bowing “Decision to Leave,” from Park Chan-wook. Mubi is releasing stateside.
The last few Oscar ceremonies have given many other non-English language movies receiving Academy attention outside their traditional category, even without representing their respective countries. Some of those included Germany’s “Never Look Away” (2018, cinematography), Italy’s “Pinocchio” (2020, costume design), and Spain’s “Parallel Mothers” (2021 for best actress for Penélope Cruz, and original screenplay). Could we have more breaking out contenders? The acting winners from Cannes could be competitive in their respective races such as Utopia’s “Holy Spider” with Zar Amir-Ebrahimi and Neon’s “Broker” starring “Parasite” alum Song Kang-ho.
With “Broker” not selected for Korea, and unlikely to be chosen by Japan (despite having a Japanese director, the film is in Korean), that might be the only route to charge towards. With “Holy Spider,” all eyes are on Denmark whether or not they will select it as its international selection. The mostly Persian-language film has funding and filmmakers from Germany, Sweden and France, which could be a hindrance for the selection committee. Denmark has been on a roll in the international feature category over the last 12 years. Nine of the last 12 Danish submissions have made the shortlist (pre-nominations), with seven ultimately receiving nominations and two winners (2010’s “In a Better World” and 2020’s “Another Round”). Coming off “Flee” (2021) making history last year as the first film ever to be nominated for animated feature, documentary and international feature, more could be on the horizon.
Italy, the home team at Venice, could actually have one of their best shots yet with “The Eight Mountains,” another jury prize-winner from Cannes, from directing duo Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch. That’s if Italy doesn’t opt for the Venice closing night film “The Hanging Sun” from Francesco Carrozzini or “Drought” from Paolo Virzi, which could make noise.
At last year’s Lido, the Golden Lion went to Audrey Diwan’s 1960s abortion drama “Happening” with Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” taking the runner-up honor. This presented a conundrum for France’s official submission, having to choose between Diwan and Palme d’Or winner “Titane” from Julia Ducournau, ultimately selecting the latter. But “Titane” failed to make the shortlist, which created a deep rift in France’s selection committee, prompting recent changes. France, despite being the country with the most Oscar nominations, is nevertheless looking to end a 30-year losing drought — the last time France won was with 1992’s “Indochine.”
In addition, Venice competition titles “Athena” from Romain Gavras, “L’Immensita” from Emanuel Crialese, “Other People’s Children” from Rebecca Zlotkowski, “Our Ties” from Roschdy Zem and “Saint Omer” from Alice Diop give France a wide selection.
“Close” from Lukas Dhont and distributor A24, which started its journey at Cannes, could rep Belgium but it’ll have to contend with the Dardenne brothers’ “Tori and Lokita,” which won a special anniversary prize from the Cannes jury. The revered directing brother duo has represented Belgium on four separate occasions but has never received any Oscar noms.
Other contenders that bowed on the Croisette include Cristian Mungiu’s “R.M.N.” (Romania, and IFC Films pickup for the U.S.), Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage” (Austria, another IFC Films U.S. release) and Tarik Saleh’s “Boy From Heaven” (Sweden).
Of course, expect snubs (Spain, looking at you for “Parallel Mothers” last year) and surprises (“Flee” scored a rare trifecta earlier this year) as the stage is being set for another exciting awards campaign season.
Even though there aren’t any films from India playing in Venice, fans of “RRR” are still hitting all the social media stops to convince the country to choose it as its entry, and not repeat the mistake of not selecting “The Lunchbox” back in 2013.
The Academy will announce its coveted shortlist of 15 international titles in December. The first country to announce its official submission was Ireland with the Berlin International Film Festival winner “The Quiet Girl” from writer-director Colm Bairéad. The Irish board must feel confident in its selection, given the early announcement in August, sending the message, don’t count them out on the circuit.
The first Oscar predictions for best international feature will be released this week on Variety’s Awards Circuit.
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