While the Academy has not yet released the full official list, these are the films Variety has learned have been submitted by various countries in the international film race. The shortlist will be announced Feb. 9 and the nominations on March 15. The Academy Awards ceremony takes place on April 25.
Albania Open Door
Director: Florenc Papas
Key Cast: Luli Bitri, Jonida Vokshi, Gulielm Radoja
Logline: Pregnant woman and her sister try to find a man to pretend to be the mom-to-be’s husband before visiting their traditional father.
Prodco: Bunker Film Plus
Algeria Héliopolis
Director: Djaâfar Gacem
Key cast: Souhila Mallem, Mehdi
Ramdani, Cesar Duminil
Logline: Algerians fight for independence punctuated by the 1945 massacre in the ancient city of Héliopolis.
Prodco: Centre Algérien de Développement du Cinéma
Argentina The Sleepwalkers
Director: Paula Hernández
Key Cast: Érica Rivas, Ornella D’elía, Marilu Marini, Daniel Hendler
Logline: A family drama encompasses the sexual awakening...
Albania Open Door
Director: Florenc Papas
Key Cast: Luli Bitri, Jonida Vokshi, Gulielm Radoja
Logline: Pregnant woman and her sister try to find a man to pretend to be the mom-to-be’s husband before visiting their traditional father.
Prodco: Bunker Film Plus
Algeria Héliopolis
Director: Djaâfar Gacem
Key cast: Souhila Mallem, Mehdi
Ramdani, Cesar Duminil
Logline: Algerians fight for independence punctuated by the 1945 massacre in the ancient city of Héliopolis.
Prodco: Centre Algérien de Développement du Cinéma
Argentina The Sleepwalkers
Director: Paula Hernández
Key Cast: Érica Rivas, Ornella D’elía, Marilu Marini, Daniel Hendler
Logline: A family drama encompasses the sexual awakening...
- 12/23/2020
- by Shalini Dore
- Variety Film + TV
Bookmark this page for all the latest international feature submissions.
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
The 93rd Academy Awards is set to take place on April 25, 2021. It was originally set to be held on February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it was October-September).
In another change to the eligibility rules,...
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
The 93rd Academy Awards is set to take place on April 25, 2021. It was originally set to be held on February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it was October-September).
In another change to the eligibility rules,...
- 10/27/2020
- by Ben Dalton¬Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Albanian director Florenc Papas, an alumnus of the Sarajevo Talents program, is in competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival with his feature film debut, “Open Door.” The road movie follows two sisters, Rudina and the pregnant and unmarried Elma, who embarks on a journey to visit their strict and traditional father in the remote mountain village where they were born. Papas, who also works as a programmer at the Tirana Film Festival, is currently developing his next project, “Luna Park.” He has also taken part in the Berlinale Talents program, the Midpoint script and project development platform and the Goethe-Institut First Films First initiative. Papas spoke to Variety about his film, centuries-old traditions, the struggles of Albanian filmmakers and the civil unrest that engulfed his country in 1997, a period the filmmaker will explore in his sophomore feature.
What inspired you to make “Open Door”?
As a filmmaker, I’m drawn to the road movie,...
What inspired you to make “Open Door”?
As a filmmaker, I’m drawn to the road movie,...
- 8/20/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Rising from the rubble of the Bosnian War to become one of Southeastern Europe’s leading film and TV industry events, the Sarajevo Film Festival has plenty to celebrate as it marks its 25th edition this year.
The festival was established in 1995 during the four-year siege of Sarajevo as part of an effort to help the reconstruction of society and save the cosmopolitan spirit of the city. Today Sarajevo not only plays a vital role for the region’s growing film and TV industries, it is also becoming an increasingly significant conduit to global partners in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.
“From the very start, we have been inspired by art and it helped us create new values and break the existing social and cultural barriers,” Sarajevo Film Festival director Mirsad Purivatra says.
Indeed, Unesco is honoring the fest this year for its promotion of “dialogue and tolerance through the arts.
The festival was established in 1995 during the four-year siege of Sarajevo as part of an effort to help the reconstruction of society and save the cosmopolitan spirit of the city. Today Sarajevo not only plays a vital role for the region’s growing film and TV industries, it is also becoming an increasingly significant conduit to global partners in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.
“From the very start, we have been inspired by art and it helped us create new values and break the existing social and cultural barriers,” Sarajevo Film Festival director Mirsad Purivatra says.
Indeed, Unesco is honoring the fest this year for its promotion of “dialogue and tolerance through the arts.
- 8/17/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
The road movie follows to sisters as they visit their strict and traditional father.
Screen can exclusively reveal the first trailer for Albanian director Florenc Papas’ debut feature Open Door, which has its world premiere at Sarajevo Film Festival next week.
Open Door will screen on August 19 as part of the official competition.
A road movie about two sisters who travel from Italy back home to Albania to meet their strict and traditional father, it follows Rudina and Elma as they enlist a former classmate to play the part of the Elma’s husband, as she faces her father having travelled very pregnant and unmarried.
Screen can exclusively reveal the first trailer for Albanian director Florenc Papas’ debut feature Open Door, which has its world premiere at Sarajevo Film Festival next week.
Open Door will screen on August 19 as part of the official competition.
A road movie about two sisters who travel from Italy back home to Albania to meet their strict and traditional father, it follows Rudina and Elma as they enlist a former classmate to play the part of the Elma’s husband, as she faces her father having travelled very pregnant and unmarried.
- 8/13/2019
- ScreenDaily
53 films will be competing for the Heart of Sarajevo Awards in the feature, documentary, short and student competitions, and 23 of these will have their world premieres at Sarajevo. The Sarajevo Film Festival has announced the full line-ups of its four competition programmes. A total of 53 pictures will be vying for the Heart of Sarajevo Awards in the Feature Film, Documentary Film, Short Film and Student Film sections. This includes 23 world, four international, 24 regional and two Bosnian premieres. In the Feature Film Competition, there are four world premieres: Cătălin Mitulescu's Heidi (Romania), Stephan Komandarev's Rounds (Bulgaria/Serbia/France), Florenc Papas' Open Door (Albania/Italy/Kosovo/Macedonia) and Ines Tanović's The Son (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia/Romania/Slovenia/Montenegro). The regional premieres include Emin Alper's Berlinale competition entry A Tale of Three Sisters (Turkey/Germany/Netherlands), Levan Akin's Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title And Then We Danced (Georgia/Sweden...
The latest films from Bulgarian director Stephan Komandarev and Romania’s Catalin Mitulescu are among 23 world premieres competing for the Heart of Sarajevo awards at the 25th Sarajevo Film Festival.
Komandarev’s 2017 film “Directions” played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and his 2008 opus, “The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner,” was shortlisted for the Oscars. Whereas “Directions” centered on taxi drivers, the new film, “Rounds,” focuses on police officers.
Also world premiering in Sarajevo is “Heidi,” directed by Mitulescu, whose 2006 pic “The Way I Spent the End of the World” and 2011’s “Loverboy” both played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. “Heidi” centers on an elderly policeman who has to persuade a teenage girl to testify in an organized-crime case involving human trafficking.
Joining “Rounds” and “Heidi” in the main competition lineup are two other world premieres. “Open Door,” the debut feature from Albanian director Florenc Papas, is...
Komandarev’s 2017 film “Directions” played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and his 2008 opus, “The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner,” was shortlisted for the Oscars. Whereas “Directions” centered on taxi drivers, the new film, “Rounds,” focuses on police officers.
Also world premiering in Sarajevo is “Heidi,” directed by Mitulescu, whose 2006 pic “The Way I Spent the End of the World” and 2011’s “Loverboy” both played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. “Heidi” centers on an elderly policeman who has to persuade a teenage girl to testify in an organized-crime case involving human trafficking.
Joining “Rounds” and “Heidi” in the main competition lineup are two other world premieres. “Open Door,” the debut feature from Albanian director Florenc Papas, is...
- 7/18/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
‘In The Shadows’ is a sci-fi set in an undefined dystopia.
German company Patra Spanou Film Marketing and Consulting has picked up world sales rights to two titles at Cannes.
Erdem Tepegöz’s sci-fi In The Shadows sees a group of people living in an undefined dystopia controlled by a surveillance system, when one of them contracts a mysterious disease.
Figen Ermek Özcorlu and Umut Üzcorlu of Istanbul’s Contact Film Works produced the title, which stars In The Fade actor Numan Acar.
Patra Spanou has also taken on Florenc Papas’ feature debut Open Door, a road movie about two...
German company Patra Spanou Film Marketing and Consulting has picked up world sales rights to two titles at Cannes.
Erdem Tepegöz’s sci-fi In The Shadows sees a group of people living in an undefined dystopia controlled by a surveillance system, when one of them contracts a mysterious disease.
Figen Ermek Özcorlu and Umut Üzcorlu of Istanbul’s Contact Film Works produced the title, which stars In The Fade actor Numan Acar.
Patra Spanou has also taken on Florenc Papas’ feature debut Open Door, a road movie about two...
- 5/19/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Five projects by filmmakers from Greece and the Balkans will be unveiled May 14 at Thessaloniki Goes to Cannes, the Cannes Film Market’s pix-in-post industry showcase supported by the Thessaloniki Intl. Film Festival.
The selection includes both emerging talents and established directors, giving a “fresh look” at the region’s filmmakers, according to Yianna Sarri, head of Agora, the Thessaloniki festival’s market.
“Greek cinema is blooming these last years,” she says, with the Cannes showcase offering “the best way to show film professionals from all over the world [the films] that will hit festivals and cinemas next year.”
Acclaimed Greek director Giorgos Panousopoulos returns after a 14-year hiatus with “In This Land Nobody Knew How to Cry,” an off-beat comedy about a French politician, a young economist, an Italian architect-turned-teacher and a Greek widow who meet by chance on the Aegean island of Armenaki, which has the magical ability to change people’s lives.
The selection includes both emerging talents and established directors, giving a “fresh look” at the region’s filmmakers, according to Yianna Sarri, head of Agora, the Thessaloniki festival’s market.
“Greek cinema is blooming these last years,” she says, with the Cannes showcase offering “the best way to show film professionals from all over the world [the films] that will hit festivals and cinemas next year.”
Acclaimed Greek director Giorgos Panousopoulos returns after a 14-year hiatus with “In This Land Nobody Knew How to Cry,” an off-beat comedy about a French politician, a young economist, an Italian architect-turned-teacher and a Greek widow who meet by chance on the Aegean island of Armenaki, which has the magical ability to change people’s lives.
- 5/1/2018
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
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