Most Oscar shortlisted titles were birthed at Cannes, with a sprinkling at other festivals.
If you wanted to name a winner from the Oscar international film shortlist right now, it would be the Cannes Film Festival. Nine of the 15 titles that made the cut came from the fest, even though the Palme d’Or winner, France’s submission “Titane,” did not. But then only those who were not paying attention to past trends in stage one voting assumed that it would be included. Although a record 93 countries put forward an entry, only 15 are moving on. The ones selected for the shortlist come from almost every continent, although Africa, despite some exciting entries such as Somalia’s “The Gravedigger’s Wife,” Chad’s “Lingui: The Sacred Bonds” and Morocco’s “Casablanca Beats,” was ignored (all three titles premiered at Cannes). Cannes players that are in the mix include Iran’s “A Hero,” helmed by previous Oscar-winner Asghar Farhadi; Norway’s “The Worst Person in the World” by Joachim Trier; Finland’s “Compartment No.6” by Juho Kuosmanen; Austria’s “Great Freedom” by Sebastian Meise; Belgium’s “Playground” from Laura Wandel; Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen” by Tatiana Huezo; and Japan’s “Drive My Car” from Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. Cannes gave a boost to four of the five Nordic countries on the list.
