On December 17, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wlll release a shortlist of the 15 films that are competing for the Best International Feature Film. Movies from 85 countries are being considered for the award that will be announced at the 97th annual Oscar ceremonies on March 2, 2025.

According to an article in Deadline, here are some of the films that may likely appear on the shortlist when it is announced next week.

Armand (Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, Norway)
A psychological thriller involving two mothers and one of their sons who has been accused of bullying.

Dahomey (Mati Diop, Senegal)
A film that examines the legacy of French colonialism in Africa.

Emilia Pérez (Jacques Audiard, France)
Chronicling the lives of four women in Mexico, including one who helps a drug-cartel leader fake her own death.

Everybody Loves Touda (Nabil Ayouch, Morocco)
A young woman tries to revive the tradition of Sheikhat, sung poetry performed by rural women in the nineteenth century.

Flow (Gints Zilbalodis, Latvia)
A fantasy film about a cat who teams up with other animals to navigate a boat during a flood that has rendered them homeless.

The Girl With the Needle (Magnus von Horn, Denmark)
The story of a woman who runs an underground adoption agency that helps unwed mothers find foster homes for their unwanted children.

Grand Tour (Miguel Gomes, Portugal)
In Burma in 1918, a British civil servant tries to avoid an arranged marriage.

I’m Still Here (Walter Salles, Brazil)
A dramatization about Eunice Paiva, whose husband Rubens had vanished during the military dictatorship in Brazil.

Kneecap (Rich Peppiatt, Ireland)
Three hip-hop artists in Belfast emerge as the spokespeople for a movement to preserve the traditional Irish language.

Murderess (Eva Nathena, Greece)
Based on a novel by Alexandros Papadiamantis, the film tells the story of an older woman who kills young girls in her town to ‘release’ them from oppression.

Nawi (Vallentine Chelluget, Apuu Mourine, Kevin Schmutzler, Toby Schmutzler, Kenya)
A 13-year-old girl finds her dreams dashed when her father tries to engineer an arranged marriage for her.

Santosh (Sandhya Suri, United Kingdom)
In rural India, a woman inherits her late husband’s position as a police constable and investigates the rape and murder of a low-caste girl.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof, Germany)
Much to the chagrin of his wife and daughters, a judge in Iran supports the regime during protests that erupt after the death of a young woman.

Sujo (Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, Mexico)
The son of a druglord tries to escape the legacy of his murdered father in rural Mexico.

Three Kilometres to the End of the World (Emanuel Pârvu, Romania)
A 17-year-old boy finds his life abruptly changes after he is brutally attacked one summer night.

Touch (Baltasar Kormákur, Iceland)
During the coronavirus pandemic, an elderly man tries to reconnect with a Japanese woman who had been his soulmate half a century earlier.

Universal Language (Matthew Rankin, Canada)
The film traces the adventures of Iranian expats in Canada after they find a large sum of money frozen deep within ice on a sidewalk.

Vermiglio (Maura Delpero, Italy)
During World War II, a Sicilian deserter escapes to the Italian Alps, where he changes the lives of a rural family.

Waves (Jiří Mádl, Czech Republic)
The employee of a radio station in Czechoslovakia is caught between conflicting loyalties to an oppressive regime and his revolutionary brother.

Check out other articles by Edward