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France has unveiled a robust shortlist of five films in the pipeline to represent country in the best international feature film race at Oscars, with Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Cannes Grand Prize winner “Minotaur” and Antonin
Baudry’s WW2-set “The Battle of De Gaulle: The Iron Age” among the titles that made the cut.
Unveiled Thursday by France’s National Film Board, the eclectic shortlist also includes Arthur Harari’s “The Unknown” starring Lea Seydoux and and Niels Schneider, Louis Clichy’s animated feature “Iron Boy” and Marine Atlan’s “La Gradiva.”
“Minotaur” is directed by Zvyagintsev, the acclaimed Russian filmmaker behind “Leviathan” who lives in France with asylum status and used his acceptance speech to urge Putin to end the war. Mubi has U.S. distribution on the film.
While “Minotaur” has the largest prestige pedigree and momentum, it’s facing a wide range of rivals in the race. “De Gaulle” hails from Pathé Films and forms part of the filmmaker’s epic saga about Charles de Gaulle’s emergence as a leader of the French Resistance. The first opus bowed out of competition at Cannes where it earned stellar reviews. The two movies have so far drawn more than five million admissions in France. A U.S. distribution deal will be announced in the coming days.
Harari’s “The Unknown,” meanwhile, marks the filmmaker’s return behind the camera following “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle.” The body-swapping drama competed at Cannes and is handled by Neon. Harari is also rolling off Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or-winning “Anatomy of a Fall,” for which the pair won the Oscar for original screenplay.
“La Gradiva” also comes to the race with Cannes momentum after winning the Grand Prize at Critics’ Week. The coming-of-age melodrama follows a French class trip to Pompeii and is represented internationally by MK2 Films. It’s been acquired by 1-2 Special.
Rounding out the shortlist is Louis Clichy’s hand-painted animated feature “Iron Boy,” which was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics after premiering at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard where it won the Special Jury Prize, and went on to win three awards at Annecy. Clichy, an animation filmmaker whose credits include the “Asterix” franchise, gives France a solid animated contender that follow the footsteps of “Flow” which won best animated film in 2025.
France’s Oscar selection committee, whose makeup is now kept confidential, will reconvene on Sept. 16 to hear presentations from the producers and international sales agents behind each shortlisted film, as well as their U.S. distributors.
France has one of the strongest historical records in the international feature category but has not won the Oscar since Régis Wargnier’s “Indochine” took the prize in 1993.
