Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner Fjord has met the Academy’s non-English dialogue requirement, securing eligibility for the International Feature category at the Oscars.
Neon, the film’s distributor, confirmed that Fjord satisfies the rule mandating more than 50 percent of dialogue in languages other than English. The movie features dialogue in English, Romanian, Norwegian and Swedish.
The qualification stems from a recent Academy rule change allowing winners of major festival prizes, including the Cannes Palme d’Or, to bypass national submission committees. Fjord won the top prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The film stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve and is scheduled to open in theaters on Oct. 9. It centers on a Romanian-Norwegian couple facing scrutiny from Norwegian child welfare authorities.
