All five Nordic countries, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland, have entered films in the race for the international feature film award at the 99th Academy Awards. Cineuropa’s running list of European submissions, updated on 12 October, includes an entry from each of them.
Denmark has chosen Woman Unknown, directed by May el-Toukhy. Sweden is backing Adult Supervision by Alex Schulman, while Norway has put forward Growth of the Soil from Hans Petter Moland. Finland’s entry is The Squirrel, directed by Markus Lehmusruusu, and Iceland is represented by The Ground Beneath Our Feet from Yrsa Roca Fannberg. Each country selects its own entry, usually through a national film body, and the five Nordic titles now join a long list of European contenders. Woman Unknown is one of two films that appear twice on Cineuropa’s list, alongside Fjord.
The wider European field is large. Cineuropa counts submissions from 40 European countries, along with 28 non-European countries whose entries involve European production and four films with European production that qualified through festivals. That makes 72 listings in total, although Fjord and Woman Unknown each appear twice, leaving 70 different films in the running. Cineuropa, the European film news site, groups the entries by country and production, which makes it possible to see how many non-European submissions involve European partners.
This year’s race also has a new route to entry. Under a rule introduced for the 99th edition of the awards, non-English-language films can be submitted if they win the top prize at the Berlinale, Busan, Cannes, Sundance, Toronto or Venice festivals. The change opens the category to festival winners that might not have been chosen as their country’s official entry.
Countries still have time to enter. The deadline for submissions is 12 November, and Cineuropa says it will add new entries as countries announce them. The Academy will reveal its shortlist of finalists on 15 December, and the final nominees will be announced on 21 January 2027, together with the other categories. The 99th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for 14 March 2027 in Hollywood, with the Nordic entries hoping to progress from the December shortlist to the final nominations in January. Until then, each of the five films will compete for attention with dozens of other submissions from across Europe and beyond.
