Another highlight of an extraordinary year: AUSTRIAN FILMS is representing two films in the Best International Feature Film category. ROSE, directed by Markus Schleinzer, was selected as Austria’s entry for the 99th Academy Awards. EVERYTIME, directed by Sandra Wollner, will compete for Germany.
Shortlist announcement: December 15, 2026
Nominations announcement: January 21, 2027
Oscar ceremony: March 14, 2027
The statement of the Austrian selection committee on ROSE: The film’s greatest strength lies in its extraordinary artistic coherence: ROSE is a work that feels as if it were cast from a single mold; the poetic black-and-white images, with their clarity, have an almost spellbinding effect and immense visual power. Markus Schleinzer’s outstanding cinematic language creates both irrefutable clarity and deep emotional authenticity. The elliptically told film remains understated without ever losing its intensity.
The statement of the German selection committee on EVERYTIME:
In EVERYTIME, director and writer Sandra Wollner achieves the remarkable feat of making grief tangible as a world thrown into disarray through purely cinematic means and with a surprising lightness of touch. The outstanding cinematography creates a shimmering and at times ethereal atmosphere without intruding on the characters. The ensemble of actors is convincing in its naturalness, with the characterizations remaining consistently precise and ambivalent. Playing elegantly with form and narrative ellipses, EVERYTIME explores the interstices of the pain of loss. Memory and the present, reality and imagination flow into one another almost imperceptibly, making this film a truly poetic cinematic experience.
