Audrey Diwan, Florian Zeller Join France’s Oscar Committee

France’s National Film Board has unveiled its revamped and expanded Oscar committee which is presided over by Charles Tesson, the former artistic director of Cannes’ Critics Week.

Along with Tesson, the committee includes “Emmanuelle” director Audrey Diwan who won Venice’s Golden Lion with “Happening” in 2021; critically acclaimed French playwright, director and producer Florian Zeller (“The Father”); former Lionsgate boss Patrick Wachsberger; international sales veterans Carole Baraton from Charades, and Gregoire Melin from Kinology; powerful French distributor Michèle Halberstadt from ARP Selection; producers Rosalie Varda (“Faces Places”) from Ciné-Tamaris, Nadim Cheikhroua (“Olfa’s Daughters”) and David Thion (“Anatomy of a Fall”) at Les Films Pelléas; and actor Clemence Poesy.

Appointed by France’s culture minister, Rachida Dati, the committee is facing the difficult task of picking the French film that is best suited to give the country its first Oscar win for best international feature in over three decades. The committee was indeed expanded from seven to 11 members and five alternates earlier this year after the backlash over the “Anatomy of a Fall” snub. And unlike in previous years, members will stay in place for a duration of two years.

As previously highlighted in Variety, the idea with this enlarged pool of voters is to ensure that decisions won’t be guided by personal or professional interests. The committee will get together tomorrow, Sept.11, to select the three-to-five movies that will be part of the short list; and will have a second meeting next Wednesday, Sept. 18, to audition the producers, international sales agents and U.S. distributors of the shortlisted films. Following the auditions, they will take a vote on the same day to choose France’s Oscar submissions.

This year is already highly competitive. While the frontrunner appears to be Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez,” an exhilarating redemption thriller “Emilia Perez” which won two major awards at the Cannes Film Festival; “The Count of Monte Cristo,” a sweeping three-hour epic adventure film adapted from Alexandre Dumas’ classic which smashed the French box office, selling over 8 million tickets so far, is also a strong contender. Another potential title for the shortlist is Alain Guiraudie’s “Misericorde” which premiered at Cannes and is playing at a flurry of festivals this fall.