Festival winners crowd early international Oscar race
The race for the Best International Feature Oscar is taking shape, and the early field is crowded with festival winners.
Variety updated its predictions for the 2027 Oscars on Oct. 1, 2026, putting five prize-winners from Cannes, Venice and Toronto at the centre of the contest, the award for films made outside the United States with mainly non-English dialogue Variety.
Spain's entry is La Bola Negra. It arrives with the People's Choice Award, the audience prize at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Spain has listed the film as its official submission for the 99th Oscars Variety. The film was finished late. It was not ready before the second week and was completed just in time, like Lukas Dhont's film, according to a June interview with Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux Variety.
Romania's entry is Fjord. It arrives as the winner of the Palme d'Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was written and directed by Cristian Mungiu Variety.
France's entry is Minotaur. It was the runner-up at Cannes. South Korea's contender is Possible Love, after director Lee Chang-dong won the directing prize at Venice.
Denmark's selection is Woman Unknown. It won the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, but was still without U.S. distribution when the predictions were published.
What makes this stand out is the calendar. The season moves fast from now. The Academy will present honorary Oscars to Glenn Close and Ridley Scott at the Governors Awards on Sunday, Nov. 15.
Preliminary voting in 12 categories runs Dec. 7-11. The shortlists will be announced on Tuesday, Dec. 15. The eligibility period closes on Dec. 31, 2026. Nominations voting will run Jan. 11-15, 2027, with the official nominations announced on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2027.
The 99th Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 14, 2027. Conan O'Brien hosts. The ceremony airs live at 7 p.m. ET on ABC from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. Full rules for the 99th Oscars, including a separate International Feature Film rules document, FAQs and a submission checklist, are posted on the Academy's rules-eligibility page.
