For many filmmakers, the Oscars are a pipe dream. But not because they think their films are not good enough.
The exiled Iranian director, Mohammad Rasoulof, for instance, knew his native country was more likely to imprison him than submit his film for the Academy Awards.
Iran, like some other countries including Russia, has an official government body that selects its Oscar submission.
“A lot of independent filmmakers in Iran think that we would never be able to make it to the Oscars,” Rasoulof said in an interview through an interpreter. “The Oscars were never part of my imagination because I was always at war with the Iranian government.”
Unlike other categories at the Academy Awards, the initial selection for the best international film category is outsourced. Individual countries make their submission, one film per country.