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:

1. Emilia Perez - France
2. The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Germany
3. I'm Still Here - Brazil
4. Kneecap - Ireland
5. The Girl with the Needle - Denmark
6. Flow - Latvia
7. Dahomey - Senegal
8. Universal Language - Canada
9. Vermiglio - Italy
10. Memories of a Burning Body - Costa Rica
11. Julie Keeps Quiet - Belgium
12. If Only I Could Hibernate - Mongolia
13. The Devil's Bath - Austria
14. Santosh - United Kingdom
15. 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:

1. Emilia Perez - France
2. The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Germany
3. I'm Still Here - Brazil
4. Kneecap - Ireland
5. The Girl with the Needle - Denmark
6. Flow - Latvia
7. Dahomey - Senegal
8. Universal Language - Canada
9. Vermiglio - Italy
10. Memories of a Burning Body - Costa Rica
11. Julie Keeps Quiet - Belgium
12. If Only I Could Hibernate - Mongolia
13. Grand Tour - Portugal
14. Sujo - Mexico
15. 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.