UK Picks 'Rehearsals for a Revolution' for Oscars International Race
The United Kingdom will send Pegah Ahangarani's Rehearsals for a Revolution into the race for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards.
Sony Pictures Classics announced the selection, according to Deadline. The category honours feature films made outside the United States, with mainly non-English dialogue.
The distributor has set a clear release path for awards season. The film will have qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles in December. Those are brief cinema engagements that meet the Academy's eligibility rules.
It will then open exclusively at Landmark's Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles and Film Forum in New York on 8 January 2027. A limited opening in two specialist cinemas is a standard platform for documentaries and foreign-language titles. It builds reviews and word of mouth before any wider release.
The film arrives with a strong festival record. It premiered as a Special Screening at the Cannes Film Festival and won the L'Oeil d'Or, the Golden Eye prize for best documentary. It has since played at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival.
It also received an Albie Award from the Maysles Documentary Center. The Albies honour documentary makers and advocates for social change.
Rehearsals for a Revolution charts Iran's history through a personal story, according to Reuters. Sony Pictures Classics acquired the film after its Cannes win, Deadline reported in May.
What makes this stand out is the route. A documentary entry is unusual in a category often filled by scripted dramas. The film must now make the Academy's shortlist in December before final nominations are decided.
