The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Monk and the Gun has been shortlisted for Best International Film for the 96th Oscars as one of the 15 movies in the first round.
This is the semi-final round and there will be a further shortlisting to five movies in another round of voting.
Academy Award nomination voting runs from January 11 – 16, with the official nominations announced on January 23. Final voting will then run from February 22 – 27, with the 96th annual Academy Awards taking place March 10.
Pawo Choyning Dorji said he is honored and grateful to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for giving him this precious opportunity to represent his country and culture.
He thanked the crew, the cast, the producers and the entire team for helping make all this possible.
This is the second time that a Bhutanese movie is getting shortlisted in the semi final round. The previous one being ‘Lunana: A Yak in a classroom,’ which made it to the final round of nominations of five movies during the 94th Oscar Awards.
It remains to be seen if ‘The Monk and The Gun’ can achieve the same feat.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced shortlists in 10 categories for the 96th Academy Awards: Documentary Feature Film, Documentary Short Film, International Feature Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song), Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Sound and Visual Effects.
In a release the Academy said fifteen films will advance to the next round of voting in the International Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards. Films from 88 countries and regions were eligible in the category.
Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must have met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.
In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote to select the final five nominations.
The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Armenia, “Amerikatsi”
Bhutan, “The Monk and the Gun”
Denmark, “The Promised Land”
Finland, “Fallen Leaves”
France, “The Taste of Things”
Germany, “The Teachers’ Lounge”
Iceland, “Godland”
Italy, “Io Capitano”
Japan, “Perfect Days”
Mexico, “Totem”
Morocco, “The Mother of All Lies”
Spain, “Society of the Snow”
Tunisia, “Four Daughters”
Ukraine, “20 Days in Mariupol”
United Kingdom, “The Zone of Interest”
