THE FESTIVALS AND LETTERBOXD AND OUR PROJECTED TOP 15
OCTOBER 6, 2024
While we wait for The Academy to officially announce the films eligible for International Feature, which will be released end of October, let's start analyzing the 84 films that have been announced so far and let's create our first projected top 15 shortlisted set of films.
Over the past two years, 27 of the 30 shortlisted films debuted in the following film festivals: Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Telluride or Toronto. This statistic is incredibly important to remember because exposure and being recognized early on is very important in order to stand out when there are so many films in contention.
This year, these films have debuted at these six festivals:
Sundance Film Festival
Kneecap - Ireland
Sujo - Mexico
Reinas - Switzerland
Kidnapping Inc. - Haiti
And So It Begins - Philippines
Berlin Film Festival:
Dahomey - Senegal
Memories of a Burning Body - Costa Rica
The Devil's Bath - Austria
Shambhala - Nepal
Family Time - Finland (2023)
Cannes Film Festival:
Emilia Perez - France
The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Germany
Grand Tour - Portugal
The Girl with the Needle - Denmark
Flow - Latvia
Universal Language - Canada
Armand - Norway
Julie Keeps Quiet - Belgium
Three Kilometres to the End of the World - Romania
If Only I Could Hibernate - Mongolia (2023)
Santosh - United Kingdom
Meeting with Pol Pot - Cambodia
Everybody Loves Touda - Morocco
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In - Hong Kong
Venice Film Festival
I'm Still Here - Brazil
Vermiglio - Italy
Kill the Jockey - Argentina
Cloud - Japan
The Antique - Georgia
Toronto Film Festival:
Under the Volcano - Poland
Laapataa Ladies - India (2023)
From Ground Zero - Palestine
Triumph - Bulgaria
La Suprema - Colombia (2023)
There were no debuts at Telluride this year.
That's 34 films
Over the past three years, 44/45 films had a score of 3.5 or higher on Letterboxd.
These films right now meet that criteria:
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies - Thailand (4.3)
Kneecap - Ireland (4.1)
The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Germany (4.0)
I'm Still Here - Brazil (4.0)
Laapataa Ladies - India (4.0)
Waves - Czechia (4.0)
Flow - Latvia (3.9)
Universal Language - Canada (3.8)
Memories of a Burning Body - Costa Rica (3.8)
Yana-Wara - Peru (3.8)
The Girl with the Needle - Denmark (3.7)
12.12: The Day - South Korea (3.7)
The Last Journey - Sweden (3.7)
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In - Hong Kong (3.7)
If Only I Could Hibernate - Mongolia (3.7)
Come Closer - Israel (3.7)
Emilia Perez - France (3.6)
Dahomey - Senegal (3.6)
Touch - Iceland (3.6)
Abang Adik - Malaysia (3.6)
Flight 404 - Egypt (3.6)
Saturn Return - Spain (3.6)
Old Fox - Taiwan (3.6)
La Suprema - Colombia (3.5)
Vermiglio - Italy (3.5)
The Devil's Bath - Austria (3.5)
Reinas - Switzerland (3.5)
Santosh - United Kingdom (3.5)
Julie Keeps Quiet - Belgium (3.5)
Memory Lane - Netherlands (3.5)
Shambhala - Nepal (3.5)
Murderess - Greece (3.5)
The Glassworker - Pakistan (3.5)
Let's see now where there's an overlap between the film festivals and Letterboxd:
Kneecap - Ireland
Reinas - Switzerland
Dahomey - Senegal
Memories of a Burning Body - Costa Rica
The Devil's Bath - Austria
Shambhala - Nepal
Emilia Perez - France
The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Germany
The Girl with the Needle - Denmark
Flow - Latvia
Universal Language - Canada
Julie Keeps Quiet - Belgium
If Only I Could Hibernate - Mongolia
Santosh - United Kingdom
Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In - Hong Kong
I'm Still Here - Brazil
Vermiglio - Italy
Laapataa Ladies - India
La Suprema - Colombia
We're down to 19 films now.
So if we had to pick 15 films from these 19, we would right now choose the following:
Emilia Perez - France
The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Germany
I'm Still Here - Brazil
Kneecap - Ireland
The Girl with the Needle - Denmark
Flow - Latvia
Dahomey - Senegal
Universal Language - Canada
Vermiglio - Italy
Memories of a Burning Body - Costa Rica
Julie Keeps Quiet - Belgium
If Only I Could Hibernate - Mongolia
The Devil's Bath - Austria
Santosh - United Kingdom
Laapataa Ladies - India
We think Reinas, Shambhala, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, and La Suprema are just outside.
So which films are missing from this list that we think are also contenders:
Kill the Jockey - Argentina
Sujo - Mexico
Armand - Norway
From Ground Zero - Palestine
Grand Tour - Portugal
Three Kilometres to the End of the World - Romania
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies - Thailand
So right now, if we had to pick 15 films to be shortlisted, we would choose the following:
Emilia Perez - France
The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Germany
I'm Still Here - Brazil
Kneecap - Ireland
The Girl with the Needle - Denmark
Flow - Latvia
Dahomey - Senegal
Universal Language - Canada
Vermiglio - Italy
Memories of a Burning Body - Costa Rica
Julie Keeps Quiet - Belgium
If Only I Could Hibernate - Mongolia
Grand Tour - Portugal
Sujo - Mexico
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies - Thailand
This year is proving to be a very unpredictable race. Let's see what happens in the coming weeks.