Go through a wall. In the race for 96are Oscars, which must be awarded on Sunday March 10 in Los Angeles, the film by Justine Triet, Anatomy of a fall, is part, just like American Fictionby Cord Jefferson, Winter Breakby Alexander Payne, and The Area of Interest, by Jonathan Glazer, feature films nominated five times, notably in the best film category. But the French hope will be faced with heavyweights of another caliber, like Oppenheimerby Christopher Nolan, produced and distributed by Universal and nominated thirteen times; Poor creaturesby Yorgos Lanthimos (Fox Searchlight, Disney subsidiary), eleven times; Killers of the Flower Moonby Martin Scorsese (Apple), ten times; barbie, of Greta Gerwig (Warner Bros), eight times, or even Maestroby Bradley Cooper (Netflix), nominated seven times.
Backed by extremely wealthy groups, these competitors benefit from a profusion of resources in this race for the Oscars to capture the maximum number of votes among the 9,797 voters. As early as the Cannes Film Festival, in May 2023, the French film team signed with the independent American distributor Neon to defend its colors. Anything but a risky choice since its CEO, Tom Quinn, achieved the feat of bringing the South Korean film Parasiteby Bong Joon-ho, in the Hollywood firmament, with four statuettes during the 92are Oscars, in 2020. A fan of French films, Tom Quinn has also boosted, across the Atlantic, the careers of Titanium, by Julia Ducournau, or even by Portrait of the girl on fireby Céline Sciamma. “Almost all the American distributors made us an offer at Cannes. We chose Neon before winning the Palme »explains David Thion, associate co-producer of Films Pelléas.
Preparing for the Oscars, “It’s six months of hand-wringing, dinners, screenings, newspaper articles, media campaign. Exactly the life of a politician on the campaign trail », remembers Manuel Chiche, the French distributor of Parasite. The stakes are enormous, he recalls. “Thanks to the Oscars, Bong Joon-ho’s film went from $5 million [4,6 millions d’euros] box office revenue in the United States to over $53 million and reached $209 million in other territories. » A small miracle for this film which cost 11.4 million dollars.
Background work
This is the destiny that Justine Triet hopes for in her wildest dreams. The whole team has been on the front lines since October 2023 for the Oscar race. The director gave in ad nauseam in the exercise of promoting his film to voters, by answering their questions for an hour after the screening. Often several times a day. But the groundwork had started before, specifies co-producer Marie-Ange Luciani, head of Films de Pierre.
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