The U.K. has selected Pegah Ahangarani’s Rehearsals for a Revolution, which won the L’Oeil d’Or for best documentary at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, as its entry in the best international feature film category at the 2027 Oscars. The film traces more than 40 years of Iran’s history through Ahangarani’s personal experiences of exile and the stories of her relatives and mentors. Drawing on personal archives, home videos, footage of street protests, newspapers and recorded voices, the filmmaker pieces together a portrait of a country shaped by political repression and a continuing hope for revolution. Ahangarani, 42, wrote, researched, and edited the film in the U.K. over more than two and a half years, working with a team of British collaborators. The film made its world premiere in the special screenings section at Cannes earlier this year, then screened at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. Rehearsals for a Revolution was released in the U.K. in September. Sony Pictures Classics will hold Oscar-qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles in …

Australia has selected James J Robinson’s feature debut First Light as its official submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively. The first-ever Filipino-Australian co-production, First Light is the first Tagalog-language film ever submitted by Australia for the Oscars. The drama follows an elderly nun (played by Brilliante Mendoza regular Ruby Ruiz), whose life has been shaped by discipline, service and belief, who, after a young construction worker dies under suspicious circumstances, gets drawn into a world of crime and corruption. Maricel Soriano, Rez Cortez and Kidlat Tahimik co-star. Explaining their decision, the Australian Oscar selection committee called First Light “a meditative work about an aging woman who questions her faith as her world begins to crumble around her, leaving an indelible mark.” Robinson’s feature, they said, was “an impressive debut that is a shining example of Australian filmmaking.” First Light was produced by Gabrielle Pearson of Majella Productions and Christelle Lou Dychangco and Jane Pe Aguirre of Clou Media Productions. The film was …

Romania has picked its Oscar contender, selecting Cristian Mungiu‘s Fjord starring Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan to be its official selection for the 99th Academy Awards in the Best International Feature race. In the drama about progressive politics, religious faith, and the limits of tolerance, Reinsve and Stan play two fundamentalist parents who relocate from Romania to a small Norwegian village, only to find themselves accused of child abuse, and forced to defend their beliefs, and strict parenting style, in court. The film is in Romanian and Norwegian with substantial portions in English. Reinsve, hot off her box office success with horror sensation Backrooms, starred in this year’s Best International Feature winner, Joachim Trier’s Norwegian melodrama Sentimental Value. Fjord premiered in Cannes, where it won the Palme d’Or for best film. Neon snatched up the film for domestic release ahead of the festival. Under new Academy rules, the Palme d’Or win meant Fjord received automatic entry qualification for the Best International Feature category, whether Romania chose to pick it or not. The film’s star power and its hot-button themes, as well …

Irish-language feature thriller Aontas is Ireland’s submission for the best international feature film category at the Oscars 2027. The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) unveiled the selection for the 99th Academy Awards on Friday. “The film follows in the footsteps of Oscar-nominated An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl) (2023) and Oscar-shortlisted Kneecap (2024),” IFTA said. Directed by Damian McCann, Aontas is a heist thriller starring Carrie Crowley (The Quiet Girl/An Cailín Ciúin), Bríd Brennan, Eva-Jane Gaffney, Seán T. Ó Meallaigh, Marcus Lamb and Art Parkinson. Told in reverse chronology, the film follows three unlikely thieves, led by a woman on the verge of a breakdown, who rob a rural Irish Credit Union, opening with “the tragic aftermath of the heist-gone-wrong,” reads a synopsis. “What starts as a poorly executed robbery becomes a portrait of a wilful woman trapped in her own past.” “Aontas” means “union.” Written by Sarah Gordon and Damian McCann, the movie was produced by Órfhlaith Ní Chearnaigh and Christopher Myers for Púca Pictures, with funding from TG4, BBC Gaeilge and Northern …

Belgium has put its horse in the Oscar race, picking Lukas Dhont’s queer WWI drama Coward as its official selection for Best International Feature Film for the 99th Academy Awards. The film, set in the Belgian trenches of the First World War, follows the love between two young soldiers who try, through art and intimacy, to escape the horrors around them. Pierre (Emmanuel Macchia) is a young Belgian soldier struggling to go on, who finds hope, and eventually romance, with the flamboyant Francis (Valentin Campagne), who entertains the troops with his gender-bending theatrical performances and impromptu song and dance numbers. Coward premiered in competition in Cannes, where it won best acting honors for Macchia and Campagne. Dhont’s 2022 feature Close was Oscar-nominated in the best international feature category. His new feature reunites the Belgian director with collaborators from Close and his 2018 debut Girl, including Close co-writer Angelo Tijssens, and his producer brother Michiel Dhont. Mubi picked up Coward for North America as well as multiple international territories, including the U.K., Germany, Italy and Australia/New …