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Ahead of the Oscar nominations being announced Jan. 23, where “Waves” is hoping for recognition after being shortlisted for Best International Film, it led the pack this past week at the Czech Lion Awards — Czech Republic’s equivalent of the Academy Awards — with 14 nominations.

“Waves” was mentioned in numerous categories, including best director and screenplay for Jiří Mádl. Actors Vojtěch Vodochodský, Tatiana Pauhofová, Martin Hofmann and Stanislav Majer were nominated in their respective categories.

The film was also nominated in below-the-line crafts, including for cinematography, editing, sound design, music, stage design, costume design and makeup and hairstyling.

The success of “Waves” at the Czech Lion Awards and its shortlist mention for Best International Film at the upcoming Academy Awards comes after much success back home. After its debut at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it won the top audience award, the film was released in Czech theaters in August,...

The Jirí Mádl-directed movie Waves, a new take on the time before and after the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet Union-led Warsaw Pact troops, is the Czech Republic’s submission for the best international feature race at the 2025 Oscars.

The film, which had its world premiere at the 58th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff) where it won the audience award, was unveiled as the official Czech contender on Tuesday.

“The film revolves around the international news office at Czechoslovak Radio, a place full of talented individuals possessing broad insight, linguistic skills and above all a commitment to honest journalistic work with a focus on the truth,” whose broadcasts played a key role during the Soviet invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968, according to a synopsis. “An epic, dynamically shot, rewarding film, which embraces uncommon heroism in the face of an oppressive regime, the strength...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

“The Lesson,” the Israeli drama series that was named best series at the 2022 Cannes International Series Festival, is set to premiere June 21 on streamer ChaiFlicks.

Created and written by Deakla Keydar, “The Lesson” is a deft socio-political drama revolving around troubled high school civics teacher Amir and Lian, a 17-year-old student in his class.

The series, which first premiered in January 2022, was also named best drama series at the Israeli Television Academy Awards in 2023. Maya Landsmann, who plays Lian, won best lead actress at that same ceremony.

Leib Lev Levin, Alma Zak and Dvir Benedek also star in the six-episode series, which is directed by Eitan Zur. Loosely based on a real-life incident, the focal argument in “The Lesson” spins wildly out of control thanks to an online post, capturing the zeitgeist of a society steeped in social media. The series explores the fiery aftermath of a politically-charged debate over racism,...

Western Europe traditionally gets the lion’s share of attention in the international film category, with France and Italy still leading the record books in terms of nominations and wins. But a number of the most exciting contenders among this year’s submissions hail from a little further east: in a bumper year for cinema from Central and Eastern Europe, a few titles stand out.

Language has been a subject of significant controversy in this year’s Oscar race. Yet, the Academy has moved the needle on this front in recent years: not so long ago, films that weren’t in an official language of the submitting country were ineligible. That would have ruled out this year’s submission from the Czech Republic, “The Painted Bird.” Aiming to be the first Czech film to score a nomination since 2003’s “Zelary,” Václav Marhoul’s film is a linguistic anomaly in all...

Viktor Dvorak has been cast in “Havel,” a biopic of Václav Havel, as the Czech playwright, dissident and national leader. Anna Geislerova, who starred in Oscar nominated “Zelary,” plays his wife, Olga Havlova.

Jiri Bartoska, the president of Karlovy Vary Film Festival, will appear in the film as “Professor,” inspired by Czech philosopher Jan Patocka.

The pic will follow Havel’s life from the Prague Spring in 1968 to the Velvet Revolution in 1989, when Havel became Czechoslovakia’s president. As well as covering Havel’s experiences as a dissident and his time in prison, it will also focus on his relationship with Olga.

The film is helmed by Czech filmmaker Slávek Horák, who was chosen as one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch in 2015. It is Horák’s second feature film following his 2015 feature debut, “Home Care,” which won lead actress prizes for Alena Mihulová at Karlovy Vary, and the Czech Lions.

Hunger Games DoP Tom Stern and 12 Years a Slave cinematographer Sean Bobbitt among those chosen for jury duty.

The 21st Camerimage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography (Nov 16-23), has revealed the competition jurors who will judge entries at this year’s event in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Jury members of the main competition jury are:

Tom Stern, cinematographer (Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino, The Hunger Games);Ed Lachman, cinematographer (Erin Brockovich, The Virgin Suicides, I’m Not There);Todd McCarthy, journalist and film critic;Denis Lenoir, cinematographer (Paris, je t’aime, Righteous Kill, 88 Minutes);Adam Holender, cinematographer (Midnight Cowboy, Smoke, Fresh);Timo Salminen, cinematographer (The Man Without a Past, La Havre, The Match Factory Girl);Franz Lustig, cinematographer (Don’t Come Knocking, Land of Plenty, Palermo Shooting);Jeffrey Kimball, cinematographer (Top Gun, Mission: Impossible II, The Expendables).Polish Films Competition

Jost Vacano, the cinematographer behind several Paul Verhoeven films including Total Recall, RoboCop and [link...

• 2003's Zelary (a foreign language Academy Award nominee released by Sony Pictures Classics) put director Ondrej Trojan on the international map, the WWII drama romance where a bride takes in a hubby in order to save him from certain death was poignant without being forcefully melodramatic. Despite all the buzz, Trojan was perhaps more in his comfort zone as a producer for Jan Hrebejk's body of work - he produced the filmmaker's previous three pictures. Trojan will be now tackle another period pic, this times the 1970's communist Czechoslovakia and will produce via his production company Total HelpArt (Tha). Scripted by Petr Jarchovský, Trojan's Citizenship Card is described as a coming-of-age tragicomedy about four students as they receive their first ID cards. Shooting began April 25 in Prague. The film is expected to be completed in time for a possible Cannes inclusion, and will hit the Czech market in the Fall.

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MOSCOW -- A Russian jury on Wednesday selected the domestic boxoffice record-breaking supernatural thriller Nochnoi Dozor (Night Watch) as its submission for foreign-language Oscar consideration. The choice of Timur Bekmambetov's digital-effects blockbuster by a Russian academy of cinema arts and sciences jury, headed by an actor who plays in the film -- Vladimir Menshov -- drew allegations of nepotism from some Russian film industry insiders. The film, which had earned just less than $16 million in Russia and neighboring former Soviet states in its 53 days of release through the end of August, is set for two Russian-language sequels and a further three English-language spinoffs after its producers struck a deal with 20th Century Fox. Meanwhile, the Czech film and television academy has chosen Horem Padem (Up and Down), by director Jan Hrebejk and producer Ondrej Trojan, as the country's official entry. The two were responsible for Zelary, one of last year's foreign-language Oscar finalists. In August, Hungary's official selection committee chose California-born Nimrod Antal's subterranean thriller Kontroll (Control) as its Oscar contender.

NEW YORK -- "Flabbergast" is not a foreign word -- it's etymology is unknown -- but it certainly can be used to describe some of the likely reactions to choices -- and omissions -- the Academy made this year in the foreign-language film category. Canadian helmer Denys Arcand's The Barbarian Invasions (Miramax Films) and Ondrej Trojan's Zelary (Sony Pictures Classics) from the Czech Republic had been bandied by those following the foreign film race as likely shoo-ins to nab nominations. But Wolfgang Becker's German feature, Good bye, Lenin! was also expected to find a place in the class photo too, but it was nowhere to be found when the noms were unveiled. In fact, a whole host of titles that have begun developing a following were among the missing. Among them, Bent Hamer and IFC Films' Kitchen Stories (Norway); Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni and ThinkFilm's The Story of the Weeping Camel (Mongolia) and Kim Ki-duk's and SPC's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring (Korea).

Norway, the Czech Republic and Hungary have announced their respective contenders for this year's foreign-language Oscar race. Kitchen Stories, Bent Hamer's comic look at Norwegian scientists' attempts to design the perfect kitchen, has been chosen as Norway's official contender. The Czech Film and Television Academy has announced the selection of Zelary, a wartime drama produced and directed by Ondrej Trojan. Eva Vezer, head of Hungary's national film body FilmUnio, said Fores, directed by Beneduk Fliegauf, will be Hungary's contender.