France’s Oscar committee has shortlisted four movies, including Jacques Audiard’s redemption thriller “Emilia Perez” and “The Count of Monte Cristo,” an epic adventure film adapted from Alexandre Dumas’ classic, as well as Payal Kapadia‘s “All We Imagine as Light” and Alain Guiraudie’s “Misericordia.”
All four movies word premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. “Emilia Perez” won two major awards, the Jury Prize and a best actress nod for its ensemble female cast, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana and Adriana Paz; while “All We Imagine as Light,” a tale of two Mumbai nurses bonding, won the Grand Prize, becoming the first Indian film in 30 years to win the award. Kapadia was also the first Indian female director to compete at Cannes. Guiraudie’s darkly comic and provocative “Misericordia” played at Cannes Premiere and recently screened at Telluride and Toronto, while “The Count of Monte Cristo,” a sweeping three-hour film directed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière, unspooled of competition at Cannes.
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The country’s revamped and expanded Oscar committee, presided over by Charles Tesson, the former artistic director of Cannes’ Critics Week, includes “Emmanuelle” director Audrey Diwan who won Venice’s Golden Lion with “Happening” in 2021; critically acclaimed French playwright, director and producer Florian Zeller (“The Father”); former Lionsgate boss Patrick Wachsberger; international sales veterans Carole Baraton from Charades, and Gregoire Melin from Kinology; powerful French distributor Michèle Halberstadt from ARP Selection; producers Rosalie Varda (“Faces Places”) from Ciné-Tamaris, Nadim Cheikhroua (“Olfa’s Daughters”) and David Thion (“Anatomy of a Fall”) at Les Films Pelléas; and actor Clemence Poesy.
The final vote for the French Oscar submission will take place on Sept. 18 after auditions with each of the four shortlisted films’s producers, international sales agents and U.S. distributors. The movie that will be chosen will represent the country in the international feature film race. Netflix has “Emilia Perez,” Samuel Goldwyn Films has “The Count of Monte Cristo,” and Janus/Sideshow have “All We Imagine as Light” and “Misericordia.” While “All We Imagine as Light” is an Indian film, it was mainly produced out of France, by Thomas Hakim and Julian Graff through their company Petit Chaos, with Indian co-producers at Chalk & Cheese Films and Another Birth. The movie was only picked up by an Indian distributor, Spirit Media (the outfit founded by “Baahubali” star Rana Daggubati), two days ago.
“The Count of Monte Cristo” smashed the French box office and has so far sold over 8 million tickets since being released in late June by Pathé. “Emilia Perez” is currently playing in theaters in France, where it’s also handled by Pathé. “Emilia Perez” just had a critically acclaimed North American premiere at Telluride and is also playing at Toronto.
France hasn’t won an Oscar for best international feature in over three decades. The country’s Oscar committee was significantly expanded from seven to 11 members and five alternates earlier this year after the backlash over the “Anatomy of a Fall” snub. While it didn’t represent France, Justine Triet’s movie went on to earn five Oscar nominations in major categories and won best original screenplay.
