Who says August is too early to start submitting films – and thus campaigning – for Oscar contention? On Friday, both Austria and Ireland announced their country’s representatives in the International Feature Film category, with Austria choosing Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s gruesome and terrifying horror film, The Devil’s Bath, and Ireland putting forth Kneecap from writer-director Rich Peppiatt. The news unofficially marks the beginning of awards season, as it were, as the countries are the first to present their Oscar hopefuls, perhaps giving other nations a sense of what to nominate as the lead-up to March’s ceremony continues.
Based on historical records from 17th and 18th century Austria, The Devil’s Bath follows a woman called Agnes, who doesn’t feel at home in her husband’s world and thus becomes enveloped by evil thoughts, the most shocking and violent of which leads her to believe she can escape. In fact, it may be her only hope at breaking free of the binds her betrothed’s community has on her. The film is a deeply dark tragedy, or at least it appears that it’s venturing down that road, yet it’s never afraid to swiftly uproot your expectations without upending its own logic. It’s as brutal and brilliant a film that the duo behind Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge have yet to make – and yes, that includes the still-shocking Goodnight Mommy, a film that will never leave my head, yet I never wish to revisit. The same might just go for The Devil’s Bath, which is currently streaming on Shudder.
InSession Film’s Jaylan Salah wrote about The Devil’s Bath from the Tribeca Festival for Geek Vibes Nation:
“The Devil’s Bath is a journey of a woman spiraling into madness, but is it delirium or the unraveling of a burdened mind ravaged by the monotony of married life in 1750 Austria and the never-ending chores? This is Jeanne Dielman of the occult; all thanks to Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala for creating this domestic loop of Hell, replacing potatoes with fish heads.”
Those in the mood for some lighter, nonetheless exciting, should find Kneecap to be the ideal cup of tea. The Irish feature – which was chosen as the country’s International Feature representative on August 2, the same day as its theatrical release in the U.S. – tells the semi-autobiographical story of the titular band, a group made up of a drug-dealing duo (Móglaí Bap and Mo Chara) and a schoolteacher (DJ Provaí) who rap about topics from Irish republican politics to drugs and sex, in both English and authentic Irish Gaelic. The film follows the trio’s journey from small-town rappers to national sensations whose music serves as a means to preserve their native language. The rappers all play semi-fictional versions of themselves in their first acting gigs, with Michael Fassbender appearing as one of their fathers.
“For a culture that was so brutally oppressed for so long — the language was almost driven to extinction — now it’s on the biggest stage of the world, and it’s an absolute privilege,” Chara said of the honor. Bap added that Kneecap is “an international story and makes people reflect on their own culture and language, and to consider the relationship they have with their indigenous or native language.” Próvaí’s response comes in appropriate fashion for the film: “Is mór an onóir dúinn gur roghnaigh IFTA Kneecap mar a roghnaíseachú don Oscar – tá muid fíor bhuíoch astu… agus go raibh maith agat as ucht an Oscar!” Translation: “We are honored that IFTA has chosen Kneecap as its Oscar shortlist — we are truly grateful… and thank you for the Oscar!”
In his InSession Film review of Kneecap from January’s Sundance Film Festival, Alex Papaioannou wrote:
“With a massive rise in younger individuals wanting to stand up and make their voices heard, Kneecap feels as if all that pent-up anxiety and desire has become personified. This is due to the authenticity felt through the very DNA of this film, from the rappers portraying themselves to the way in which Peppiatt captures Belfast; the culture feels represented in a beneficial manner. This will likely be a favorite of the fest to most fans of cinema that remains consistently exciting without sacrificing a ton of substance.”
Austrian submissions have received Academy Award nominations just four times since 1961 (1986: ’38 – Vienna Before the Fall; 2007: The Counterfeiters; 2008: Revanche; and 2012: Amour), with the country taking home statuettes for both The Counterfeiters and Amour. Two of its three most recent selections, 2021’s Franz Rogowski vehicle Great Freedom and 2022’s Corsage, starring Vicky Krieps, were shortlisted but not nominated. Ireland, meanwhile, has only been sending films to the Oscars since 2007, and scored its only nomination for 2022’s The Quiet Girl. (Ireland’s Spanish-language film Viva was shortlisted in 2016.)
As for how these selections could impact the International Feature Film Award race, The Devil’s Bath likely faces the tougher road to a nomination solely due to the Academy’s reluctant history of honoring horror films. Aside from Jordan Peele’s Get Out – which nabbed Peele a Best Original Screenplay Oscar at the 2018 ceremony – nominations for horror films only tend to come in technical categories. And depending on your opinion of Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, which took home the honor last year, a true horror film hasn’t been nominated in the category since 2006, when Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth made the final five.
Kneecap’s prospects are more realistic. For starters, it’s based on a true story, a genre the Academy tends to appreciate simply for existing. Yet the ever-changing Academy, namely its newest members, are likely to appreciate its bold storytelling choices and the fact that, while the film is a work “non-fiction,” it doesn’t adhere to the tropes films of its nature tend to blindly follow. Tonally, it’s musical, humorous, and vulgar, and jam-packed with visual flourishes that remind this viewer of the vibrant colors that populate the Spider-Verse films. Lyrics and lines alike splash onto the screen as characters converse and rap, almost as though these artists’ tales are a personalized comic strip coming to life in real-time.
While not an automatic greenlight to the Dolby Theatre, Peppiatt’s film does seem to have caught GoldDerby’s attention. Currently, the awards site has it on the outside looking in when it comes to top contenders, but Kneecap does appear in the “Strong Contenders” category in the site’s latest International Feature Film temperature check. Having made history this year when it became the first Irish-language film to have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, perhaps Kneecap could serve as another big swing for the Academy at a time when it seems to be more willing to take them. And not just in terms of fresh-faced, unique nominees: It would likely be the first time that nominees will wear tracksuits to the March 2025 celebration instead of tuxedos. Let’s hope the Academy feels it’s time to forgo its typical dress code requirements, even if it’s just this once.
