International Oscar Film Nominees Reflect Global Turmoil

This year’s slate of best international film Oscar nominees puts France, Brazil, Germany, Latvia and Denmark center stage for the upcoming Academy Awards. And with several of these films dealing with deep-rooted issues in their country from past to present, ranging from stories about censorship, military takeovers to ultimate redemption and hope in the face of senseless violence, there’s a lot connecting these selections despite their widely differing styles. And in the case of one animated film, an entirely different medium.

“Emilia Pérez,” which led the overall nomination tally with 13, including best picture and best director, has the most cross-genre appeal, with the film bringing together the movie musical and crime thriller. Director Jacques Audiard previously told Variety that “it’s a film that’s ‘political,’ I know it. [It’s] as much about trans identity as about the disappeared in Mexico.”

With its searing black-and-white cinematography, Denmark’s “The Girl with the Needle,” set in post-WWI Copenhagen, stands out as a particularly dark and disturbing film in the Oscar lineup with its inspiration taken from the Danish serial killer Dagmar Overbye, who died in 1929. Director Magnus von Horn found himself surprised by the Academy recognition, as well as the film’s box office success back in Denmark.

“It’s not a film you expect to have such reach, especially … because small children are being subjected to bad things in it,” von Horn says. “It was a difficult film to get made and financed. So when we saw that it got nominated by the Oscars and had found a home with cinemagoers, it just proves that maybe there is no real recipe for what works in cinema. It’s just good storytelling.”

With the increasing diversity and international appeal of the Academy’s voting body, von Horn, like other directors whose film travel the world, tuned into his film’s universal appeal across language…