France has selected exiled Russia director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s French-produced political thriller Minotaur as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category of the 99th Academy Awards.
The submission was chosen from a shortlist also featuring Antonin Baudry’s historical biopic De Gaulle: Tilting Iron, Louis Clichy’s animated feature Iron Boy, Marine Atlan’s La Gradiva and Arthur Harari’s’ The Unknown.
Minotaur world premiered in Cannes where it won the Grand Prix, and has also been selected for It is also Telluride, Toronto, New York and BFI London Film Festival among many other festivals.
The film taps into the mood in Zvyagintsev’s native Russia in 2022 as businessmen in a provincial city get to grips with the implications of their country’s invasion of Ukraine as workers are drafted into the army and they are asked to contribute financially to the war effort.
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Dmitriy Mazurov plays successful company director Gleb, whose seemingly perfect life starts to unravel, not due to the conflict but rather his suspicions that his wife (Iris Lebedeva) is having an affair.
It is Zvyagintsev’s first film since Loveless in 2017 which won the Jury Prize in Cannes and went on to be nominated for an Oscar.
It marks the second year running that France has selected a non-French language picture to represent it in the Best International Feature Film category, following the selection of Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident last year.
French-German-Latvian co-production Minotaur is lead produced by Paris-based CG Cinéma, Mk2 Productions and Latvia’s Forma Pro Films.
Mubi will release the film in U.S. theaters on November 20, 2026.
The selection committee, which was kept under wraps until the announcement of their choice, was presided over by critic and former Cannes Critics’ Week artistic director Charles Tesson.
He was joined by sales agents Grégory Chambet (WTFilms) and Nicolas Eschbach (Indie Sales) as well as producers Nadim Cheikhrouha (The Voice Of Hind Rajab), Thierry de Clermont-Tonnerre (I’m Still Here), Ron Dyens (Flow), Emilie Lesclaux (The Secret Agent), Sophie Mas (Arco), Sylvie Pialat (Timbuktu); The Substance director Coralie Fargeat and New York-based French cinema promotion expert and programmer Adeline Monzier.
