In all, movies from 85 countries areeligiblefor the prize.
Below, we take a closer look at the potential candidates for the early cut.
They include prize winners from Sundance to Berlin, Cannes, Venice and myriad other festivals and awards bodies.
The Oscar shortlist for Best International Feature Film will be revealed December 16.AMPAS
Likewise, Reinsve shines as a striking anti-heroine, playing a brittle, broken woman with a marshmallow interior.
Winner of Best European Discovery 2024 European Film Award.
DAHOMEY(Senegal), dir: Mati Diop; U.S.
‘Armand’IFC Films
Along with thousands of others, these artifacts were plundered by French colonial troops in 1892.
Directors comment:Were well aware this issue needs to be addressed on different levels.
They offer a way to do something important.
Deadlines take:A musical marvel.
Of course its crazy, but Audiard has set up his impossible conjuring trick and made it work.
Directors comment:Touda is the successor of the heroines in rebellion against all established powers, the Sheikhats.
Their voice was their weapon and their style of singing, the Aita, their ammunition.
Thats who Touda is.
She wants to transcend borders and prohibitions; she fights all forms of contemporary dominations.
The film is driven by this spirit of rebellion.
Key awards/festivals:Debuted in the Cannes Premier section; heading to Palm Springs in January.
FLOW(Latvia); dir: Gints Zilbalodis; U.S. Directors comment:I think people will see themselves in the animals.
But from the get-go, our plan was also to make the animals behave mostly as real animals do.
We wanted to avoid showing animals behaving like humans or have them think the way humans do.
The characters goals are primal and very simple, which is necessary since we do not use dialogues.
But although the characters have simple goals, it does not mean they are less deep, less significant.
In other words, its simple, not simplistic.
Key awards/festivals:Premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard, later winning four prizes in Annecy.
It also nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Motion Picture, Animated category.
THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE(Denmark), dir: Magnus von Horn; U.S.
This kind of delicate tiptoeing between extremes pervades all departments.
It was a story that really scared me and provoked me.
I have kids of my own.
But when I get that fear, its also something that has an inspirational effect on me.
Nominated for a Golden Globe in the non-English Language category.
GRAND TOUR(Portugal), dir: Miguel Gomes; U.S. Directors comment:This film began to take shape on the eve of my wedding.
I was reading a book about travel entitledThe Gentleman in the Parlourby Somerset Maugham.
In two pages of this book Maugham describes an encounter with an English resident in Burma.
Basically it was a story playing on universal stereotypes.
The stubbornness of women triumphed over the cowardice of men.
IM STILL HERE(Brazil), dir: Walter Salles; U.S.
The film explores the determination and resilience of a mother reinventing herself after her familys life was shattered.
Deadlines take:Salles has a purpose here.
As much as it is a celebration, it is his defense of Brazil.
IN HER PLACE (Chile), dir: Maite Alberti; U.S.
I wanted to reconstruct (Mercedes) through what people were saying about her.
She was a woman who had a lot of freedom in that period…
This film is, in part, a defense of ones own room.
The necessity of silence and the ability to have personal creative independence.
Key awards/festivals:World premiered in San Sebastian and played AFI.
KNEECAP(Ireland); dir: Rich Peppiatt; U.S.
Deadlines take:Its a big fat-fingered eff-you.
Amazing, really, how much fun that can be.
So, I wanted to understand why it means so much to them.
Also nominated for the FIPRESCI prize in Palm Springs.
She turns to murdering young girls in the town, to release them from their social fate.
And I was frightened.
How could I ever be related to a woman that kills babies?
So I took some distance from the book…
I realized it wasnt her actions that gave me this sense of familiarity with her.
It was her traumas.
Key awards/festivals:Won six prizes at Thessaloniki and five at the Hellenic Film Academy Awards.
Directors comment:We have a lot of females in films.
We also have quite a few leads in films sometimes.
But for me, I was really interested in complex moral decisions that a woman has to make.
Named a Top 5 International Film of the year by the National Board of Review.
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG(Germany), dir: Mohammad Rasoulof; U.S.
When Iman discovers that his service weapon has disappeared, he comes to suspect a family member is responsible.
We decided to go with a very small group and with very limited and clear resources.
Its now got a Golden Globe nom in the non-English language race.
When Sujo enters his teens a rebelliousness awakens in him and he joins the local cartel.
And what a time it is in Mexico.
Thousands of kids have become orphans due to the violence of the drug cartels.
Some of them are children of the victims, the collateral damage of the drug war.
But others are the sons and daughters of the people who actively participated as perpetrators.
This is a story about these others.
Key awards/festivals:Won Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema Drama at Sundance ahead of myriad worldwide festival play.
Deadlines take: Parvus film becomes something like an emotional map of the community… Directors comment:Why do people choose to attack always a minority?…
Its something we really must work on, we as human beings.
TOUCH(Iceland), dir: Baltasar Kormakur; U.S.
But at the height of their whirlwind affair, Miko abruptly vanished.
Directors comment:I wasnt looking for a love story… Massoud leads a group of befuddled tourists upon an increasingly absurd walking tour of Winnipeg monuments and historic sites.
Matthew leaves his job at the Quebec government and embarks upon a mysterious journey to visit his estranged mother.
Time, geography and identities crossfade, interweave and collide.
Its like a confluence of rivers.
Or a Hawaiian pizza.
Key awards/festivals: Won Karlovy Vary Audience Award; goes to Palm Springs in January.
