Out of the 15 films that were named to this year’s Oscars shortlist for Best International Film, major distributors like Netflix backing “Emilia Pérez” and Sony Pictures Classics behind “I’m Still Here” have been huge contributors to the success of those films. Notably, though, one film on the list still doesn’t have U.S. distribution — the Czech Republic submission “Waves.”
With the countless factors involved in bringing a successful Oscar campaign to life — this year, the shortlist of 15 chosen from the 85 countries that submitted films — even making the shortlist, let alone getting nominated, without a theatrical distributor to get the word out beforehand is a major accomplishment.
The “Waves” campaign has been led by MediaPlanPR, an L.A.-based public relations firm specializing in international films. Their past successes include Oscar nominations for “Kon-Tiki,” “Bullhead” and “My Life As a Zucchini.”
Tatiana Detlofson, founder and executive strategist of MediaPlanPR, says that having a film representing a small country like the Czech Republic poses challenges right off the bat. To secure a sizable budget, she credits having an active producer like Monika Kristlová who “went out and knocked on every door in Czech Republic.”
“Most of these films with distribution, they do big screenings all over the world because a major part of the Academy’s voting body is international,” Detlofson tells Variety. “We have only seven voters, and only four are voting for international film. And I don’t know if they are actually voting for a Czech film. But if you compare it to France, the U.K. and Italy, they have hundreds of voters.”
Detlofson describes her years of awards season campaigning as 24/7 work, and that has been no different on “Waves.” She details how “you wake up and you start at eight or nine in the morning, and you end screenings at midnight. That’s how it goes for three months, non-stop … And the chemistry needs to work between the publicist and filmmakers because you practically marry them for three months. You have to have the passion and you have to really believe that the film will make it to the shortlist or nomination.”
After agreeing to work on the film following its audience award win at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Detlofson recognized its potential. Knowing how much of a crowd-pleasure the film has proven to be, her strategy has been to get “Waves” seen by as many industry people as possible — and the right people.
“Almost all voters who saw the film really loved it and said how important it is, resonating with what’s happening today in Ukraine,” Detlofson explains. “I tried to get as many reviews as I could, we got quite a few trades to cover the film. I made sure all the important journalists saw it like Scott Feinberg and Anne Thompson.”
Another international film that has clearly resonated with events happening in the world is “From Ground Zero,” Palestine’s entry for Best International Film, which also made the Oscar shortlist. While the film has a U.S. distributor in Watermelon Pictures, with the film currently playing in select U.S. theaters, the family-owned company was founded just less than a year ago, marking its first entry into the Oscar race.
Joshua Jason, who has been working on the film’s campaign with his firm Joshua Jason Public Relations, notes a lack of financial resources as the biggest challenge for films campaigning with no U.S. distribution. Previously, he boarded campaigns for films like “Playground” from Belgium and “Cinema Sabaya” from Israel before they got proper distribution.
“You need to be able to rent theaters to screen the film, to potentially have a social media campaign with postings in the trades, or these packages that Variety, TheWrap and everybody has to highlight films throughout the season,” Jason explains. “My office has a list of theaters and people that have a wide range of rates. You know, ‘Let’s have a screening and a reception here so we can save this money and spend it over there.’ So we’re really good at allocating budgets, expanding or reducing someone’s spending to be cost-effective.”
To support award campaigns, European countries like Iceland and Finland typically have larger amounts set aside. Detlofson notes how the Czech Academy usually gives around $40,000 for their Oscar submissions, a “small but good start.” But when countries go to war or have major political issues they have to tackle, funding for art is usually the first thing that gets cut.
Like Detlofson’s work with “Waves,” Jason notes that a huge hurdle is getting voters seated for in-person screenings with how many films there are to watch in any given award season. The added pressure with “From Ground Zero,” a series of 22 shorts all shot in Gaza, was garnering interest during a sensitive moment with Israel and Palestine.
Jason recalls “people saying, ‘Well, I’m not sure that it’s going to align with my political beliefs.’ And yet, I would say to these people, please just come to a screening. Please just push play. Please watch it on the portal. Please just give it a go because this is a movie like you’ve never seen before.”
With the new Academy rules, films vying for nominations have to send email blasts through the Academy and can only send a member one email per week. This can cost up to $800 per week for international films, and even up to $2,000 if they are also campaigning for Best Picture. And just getting the qualifying seven-day theatrical run can rack up to $8,000, according to Detlofson.
With how competitive these categories are and the financial barriers for smaller campaigns, there are always many more examples of films that don’t make it into the eventual five or the shortlist.
Jonathan Taylor, co-principal at Robertson Taylor Partners, is an awards consultant (and former Variety editor) who helped bring “Green Book” to Best Picture victory. He’s also worked on many international film campaigns before. One of them included 2016’s “Al Di Qua,” a low-budget documentary about homelessness in Italy, which didn’t land the nomination.
“There were not any stars connected to it,” Taylor recalls. “And our client really didn’t have money to do a big campaign, so we didn’t do advertising. Advertising is the best way to get attention out there but there aren’t many independent filmmakers who have the budget.”
Nadine Jolson, a publicist who owns her own company, Jolson Creative, worked on the campaign for the Kyrgyzstani film “Queen of the Mountains” back in 2014, which told the true story of a woman saving her country from Russian invaders.
Jolson often finds herself reminding clients that they can — and should — rely on resources in their own countries. She explained that “the countries really need to back these films and support them as well, not just the filmmakers, because the filmmakers sometimes feel like they’re all on their own.”
Since many smaller countries come in with little to no experience in Oscar campaigning, Jolson’s job often becomes coaching the filmmakers through the process. For instance, Kyrgyzstan never had a film nominated or shortlisted in the international category, so there was no successful campaign for them to reference.
“So we’re like their guide,” Jolson says. “Like, here are the rules. There’s a lot of stuff you can’t do. After the shortlist, the rules get tighter and tighter, and once you’re nominated, then they’re extremely tight.”
Many renowned actors and public figures end up joining international films as executive producers to try and boost their campaigns. As Variety reported exclusively last month, Michael Moore, the Oscar-winning activist behind “Fahrenheit 9/11,” joined “From Ground Zero” as an executive producer.
Jason describes the importance of Moore’s involvement: “He is a provocative voice because he really champions the underdog. He champions documentary and the original style of making a movie … the idea that the whole project, from inception to now, has been made, truly in the literal sense, as guerrilla filmmaking.”
Catherine Lyn Scott, founder of London Flair PR, notably worked on short films like “An Irish Goodbye,” which won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film. While she notes that having a major name is important for both shorts and international films, there must be a deeper, personal connection for it to resonate.
“It’s a good idea only if it’s someone who connects and really is relevant to the story,” Scott explains. “It doesn’t make any sense to have somebody for the name. Colin Farrell’s Irish, he really connected with [“An Irish Goodbye”], obviously Mindy’s Indian and [“Anuja”] is Indian, but she also really connects with the fact that it’s about two girls working in the garment factory.”
Ultimately, Jolson sees the benefits of running an independent campaign even without an eventual shortlist mention, nomination or win. When she worked on “Queen of the Mountains,” the money behind that film helped launch the annual Asian World Film Festival to “bring more attention to that part of the world and provide a place for filmmakers to have an opportunity to get in front of Oscar voters.”
While the film may not have received an Oscar nomination or shortlist mention, the festival is still running in Los Angeles over 10 years later, honoring Asian cinema, culture and storytelling. Kyrgyzstan has also continued to submit films for Best International Film consideration nearly every year since “Queen of the Mountains.”
For Detlofson, who was raised in the Czech Republic, the work on securing a U.S. distributor for “Waves” continues.
“I have a big hope that even if the film doesn’t get nominated, it will live on and maybe get distribution,” Detlofson says. “I will work hard for it, even if my Oscar campaign will end on the 23rd. We are the dark horse in the race.”
