“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.
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.
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.
