Palm Springs Film Fest 2020 Presents a Showcase of 51 International Oscar Contenders

Ryan Lattanzio

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The annual Palm Springs International Film Festival in California is always an opportunity to catch up on many of the contenders for the Best International Feature — née Best Foreign-Language — Film Academy Award. Now in its 31st edition, the festival this year has 51 of them, from favorite-to-beat “Parasite” from South Korea and Senegal’s “Atlantics,” to other films quietly making strides in the race: Czech Republic’s “The Painted Bird,” Sweden’s “And Then We Danced,” Russia’s “Beanpole,” Romania’s “The Whistlers,” North Macedonia’s documentary contender “Honeyland,” Norway’s “Out Stealing Horses,” and many more.

The festival will screen 188 films from 81 countries, including 51 premieres, from January 2-13, 2020. The Awards Buzz section includes a special jury of international film critics, who will review these films to present the FIPRESCI Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, as well as Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay in this category. See the lineup of 51 films in that section below, and see the full Palm Springs lineup via the festival website.

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Also featured this year will be conversations with “Hustlers” director Lorene Scafaria with author Jessica Pressler, “Jojo Rabbit” with “Caging Skies” author Christine Leunens, and “Motherless Brooklyn” author Jonathan Lethem with director/star/writer Edward Norton. The festival will additionally present new films from directors such as Roy Andersson, Barbara Kopple, Takashi Miike, Agnieszka Holland, Werner Herzog, Wang Xiaoshuai, Hirokazu Koreeda, and Agnès Varda.

Here are the 51 foreign Oscar contenders being presented at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

“1982” (Lebanon), Director Oualid Mouaness
“Adam” (Morocco), Director Maryam Touzani
“Ága” (Bulgaria), Director Milko Lazarov
“And Then We Danced” (Sweden), Director Levan Akin
“Antigone” (Canada), Director Sophie Deraspe
“Atlantics” (Senegal), Director Mati Diop
“The Awakening of the Ants” (Costa Rica), Director Antonella Sudasassi Furnis
“Beanpole” (Russia), Director Kantemir Balagov
“The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind” (UK), Director Chiwetel Ejiofor
“Buoyancy” (Australia), Director Rodd Rathjen
“The Chambermaid” (Mexico), Director Lila Avilés
“Commitment” (Turkey), Director Semih Kaplanoğlu (North American Premiere)
“Corpus Christi” (Poland), Director Jan Komasa
“The Delegation” (Albania), Director Bujar Alimani
“Finding Farideh” (Iran), Director Azadeh Moussavi, Kourosh Ataee
“Gaza” (Ireland), Director Gary Keane, Andrew McConnell
“Gully Boy” (India), Director Zoya Akhtar
“Heroic Losers” (Argentina), Director Sebastián Borensztein (U.S. Premiere)
“Honeyland” (North Macedonia), Director Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska
“Incitement” (Israel), Director Yaron Zilberman (U.S. Premiere)
“Instinct” (Netherlands), Director Halina Reijn
“Invisible Life” (Brazil), Director Karim Aïnouz
“It Must Be Heaven” (Palestine), Director Elia Suleiman
“Les Misérables” (France), Director Ladj Ly
“Let There Be Light” (Slovakia), Director Marko Skop
“M for Malaysia” (Malaysia), Director Dian Lee, Ineza Roussille
“Monos” (Colombia), Director Alejandro Landes
“The Mover” (Latvia), Director Dāvis Sīmanis
“Our Mothers” (Belgium), Director Cesar Diaz
“Out Stealing Horses” (Norway), Director Hans Petter Moland
“Pain And Glory” (Spain), Director Pedro Almodóvar
“The Painted Bird” (Czech Republic), Director Václav Marhoul
“Papicha” (Algeria), Director Mounia Meddour
“Parasite” (South Korea), Director Bong Joon Ho
“The Perfect Candidate” (Saudi Arabia), Director Haifaa Al-Mansour
“Queen of Hearts” (Denmark), Director May el-Toukhy
“The Red Pigeon” (Pakistan), Director Kamal Khan
“Retablo” (Peru), Director Alvaro Delgado Aparicio
“Spider” (Chile), Director Andrés Wood
“The Steed” (Mongolia), Director Erdenebileg Ganbold
“System Crasher” (Germany), Director Nora Fingscheidt
“Tel Aviv on Fire” (Luxembourg), Director Sameh Zoabi
“Those Who Remained” (Hungary), Director Barnabás Tóth
“Truth and Justice” (Estonia), Director Tanel Toom (North American Premiere)
“Tu Me Manques” (Bolivia), Director Rodrigo Bellott
“Verdict” (Philippines), Director Raymund Ribay Gutierrez
“Weathering With You” (Japan), Director Makoto Shinkai
“When Tomatoes Met Wagner” (Greece), Director Marianna Economou
“The Whistlers” (Romania), Director Corneliu Porumboiu
“A White, White Day” (Iceland), Director Hlynur Palmason
“Zana” (Kosovo), Director Antoneta Kastrati (U.S. Premiere)

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