France’s National Film Board has unveiled a shortlist of five films vying to represent the country in the best international feature film category at the Oscars. The selection includes works by acclaimed directors such as Andrey Zvyagintsev and Antonin Baudry.
The shortlist features Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur,” a film described as a scathing portrait of corruption in Putin’s Russia. Zvyagintsev, who lives in France with asylum status, previously won the Cannes Grand Prize for the film and used his acceptance speech to urge Putin to end the war. Mubi holds U.S. distribution rights for “Minotaur.”
Also in contention is Antonin Baudry’s World War II-set film, “The Battle of De Gaulle: The Iron Age,” the first installment in an epic saga about Charles de Gaulle’s emergence as a leader of the French Resistance. The film has already garnered over five million admissions in France, and a U.S. distribution deal is pending.
Rounding out the shortlist are Arthur Harari’s “The Unknown,” starring Lea Seydoux and Niels Schneider; Louis Clichy’s animated feature “Iron Boy”; and Marine Atlan’s “La Gradiva.” Harari recently collaborated with Justine Triet on the Palme d’Or-winning “Anatomy of a Fall,” for which they won the Oscar for original screenplay. “La Gradiva” won the Grand Prize at Critics’ Week, and “Iron Boy” won three awards at Annecy after premiering at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and being acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. “Iron Boy” follows in the footsteps of “Flow,” which won best animated film in 2025 and was also nominated in the international feature category representing Latvia.
The selection committee, now operating with a confidential membership, will reconvene on September 16 to hear presentations from producers, international sales agents, and U.S. distributors. The committee’s decision is expected to be vigorous, with some members reportedly hesitant to select a foreign director’s film that isn’t in French. Last year, the committee selected Iran’s Jafar Panahi and his Palme d’Or winner, “It Was Just an Accident.”
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