Denmark has chosen Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider as its entry for best international feature at the Oscars 2023.
The film was shortlisted alongside Frelle Petersen’s Forever and Tea Lindeburg’s As In Heaven.
Based on the real-life story of an Iranian serial killer whose victims were sex workers, the film follows a female journalist investigating the murders taking place in the holy city of Mashhad.
It premiered at Cannes in official competition where Zar Amir-Ebrahimi picked up the award for best actress. The Persian-language drama was also nominated for best international film at Jerusalem Film Festival.
Holy Spider is produced by Profile Pictures and Germany’s One Two Film while it’s co-produced by France’s Why Not Productions and Sweden’s Nordisk Film Production AB.
Wild Bunch is handling international sales.
Despite the film being in Persian and set in Iran, its production is predominantly Danish (and German) with Iranian-born Abbasi presently living in the country.
Denmark’s 2021 submission - the refugee animation drama Flee from Jonas Poher Rasmussen – secured a nomination while the country’s 2020 submission, Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, picked up the award. The country has had four wins in total and fourteen nominations.
Abbasi is one of many filmmakers of Iranian heritage who, on Monday (September 26), signed an open letter urging filmmakers to support anti-government protests following the death of Iranian woman Masha Amini while in police custody.
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