There are still several months left for the celebration of the 96th edition of the Oscars, the most important international film awards ceremony, but little by little some details are being revealed. This Thursday, September 7, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the three Spanish films that could represent Spain at the Oscars in the category of best international film. As every year, it is the Academy itself that chooses the tape to send to hollywood to represent the country, after voting.

The three Spanish films chosen to compete for the Oscars in 2024 are ‘Close the eyes’, by Victor Erice; ‘20,000 species of bees’, by Estibaliz Urresola; and ‘The snow society’, by JA Bayona. But when and how do you decide which one is chosen? There is a process for this within the Academy. In the first place, these three are chosen by voting, among all those that meet a series of requirements. In a second vote, the academics choose one of the three, which is the one that is definitely sent to the contest to be eligible for the prizes. The film that will represent Spain at the 2024 Oscars will be officially announced the 20 of Septemberin a public act.

For the previous edition of the awards, the three chosen were ‘Alcarràs’ (Carla Simon)‘As beasts’ (Rodrigo Sorogoyen) and ‘five little wolves‘ (Alauda Ruiz de Arzúa), although in the end the academics opted for send the tape of Carla Simón to the Angels. However, the fact that a film is chosen in Spain does not guarantee its participation in the awards. In 2023, for example, ‘Alcarràs’ was left out of the race for the Oscars. Once the Hollywood Academy has the complete list of eligible films, it is each branch of the academy (of the 17 that exist) that evaluates that list and chooses those who they will finally be nominated in the next edition of the awards.

Thus, in the case of the Best International Film category at the Oscars, it is the specific foreign language film committee that begins to work. First, all films presented are screened, with English subtitles, and members of a preliminary committee choose a shortlist of 15. Afterwards, it is the committee responsible for the nominations that, by secret ballot, decides which five films will compete for the Oscar.

When are the nominees for the Oscars known?

And then, when will it be known which Spanish film will go to the Oscars? Although on September 20 the Spanish Academy will have already chosen the film that it will send to the Oscars, it will not be until the gala in which all the nominations are announced when it will be known if, indeed, it will enter the list of nominations or, as happened last year, it will be left out. However, the Hollywood Academy usually publishes a list of shortlisted before the official announcement, so in the event that the Spanish option is ruled out, it could be known before the official announcement.

Between the days Voting will take place on December 14 and 18 to determine the shortlist for the Oscars; predictably, on December 21 this short list will be published. The votes to form the lists of nominees will take place between January 11 and 16, 2024 to, a week later, give know the list of nominees for the Oscars on January 23, 2024. The Hollywood Film Awards ceremony will take place on March 10, 2024.