Switzerland shortlists three films for Oscars

Switzerland shortlists three films in the race for the Oscars Keystone-SDA

The historical drama A bras-le-corps, the black-and-white philosophical film Cosmos and the documentary about Gaza’s survivors, Qui vit encore, are in the running for Switzerland’s Oscar nomination.

The three French language films have been shortlisted as potential Swiss entries for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film at the 99th ceremony, to be held in March 2027. This was announced by the promotional agency Swiss Films.

Marie-Elsa Sgualdo’s empowering historical drama A bras-le-corps had previously been nominated seven times for the Swiss Film Awards and had won two awards.

The film is set on the Swiss border during the Second World War, where 15-year-old Emma becomes pregnant following a rape. The film depicts her despair as she faces considerable social pressure. Furthermore, this feature film questions Switzerland’s role in the persecution of Jews during the Nazi era.

The Spanish-language film Cosmos could also be Switzerland’s entry for the Oscars. The Geneva-based filmmaker and photographer Germinal Roaux, who works exclusively in black-and-white visual imagery, takes the audience to a village on the Yucatán Peninsula in Central America.

There, a widow and a man, both in their sixties, form a deep bond.

Two-stage selection process

Alongside these fiction films, a documentary entitled Quit vit encore has also made the shortlist. In it, the Geneva-based director Nicolas Wadimoff gives a voice to survivors from Gaza against an abstract backdrop.

The film was nominated last spring for the Swiss Film Award in the Best Documentary category. Earlier this year, it won the Solothurn Film Festival Award.

The selection process for Switzerland’s Oscar submission will take place in two stages during the Locarno Film Festival, carried out by a jury appointed by the culture ministry.

Next week, the jury will decide which of the three films Switzerland will put forward for a nomination in the Best International Feature Film category.

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Translated from French, reviewed by an English Department journalist.