Audrey Diwan, Florian Zeller, Patrick Wachsberger among members of France’s new-look Oscars selection committee

France has revealed the 11 members of its newly revamped Oscars selection committee as the country attempts to win its first award in the best international feature category in more than 30 years.

Former head of Cannes’ Critics’ Week Charles Tesson will preside over the group of leading industry figures who include Oscar-winning producer Patrick Wachsberger, Charades co-founder Carole Baraton, Kinology founder Gregoire Melin, filmmakers Audrey Diwan and Florian Zeller, producer and distributor Rosalie Varda, actress Clémence Poesy, Anatomy Of A Fall producer David Thion, distributor, producer and author Michèle Halberstadt of ARP Selection, and Four Daughters producer Nadim Cheikhroua.

France’s CNC overhauled its committee protocol in July following fallout from last year’s decision not to put forward Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall and choices over the past several years that have left France without a win in the category since Regis Wargnier’s Indochine in 1993.

France’s most recent nomination came in 2020 with Ladj Ly’s Les Miserables.

The committee is now comprised of 11 members and five alternates, up from a current seven members. The members, who will each serve a two-year term, were appointed by France’s minister of culture Rachida Dati based on the recommendation of acting CNC president Olivier Henrard, who stepped in after Dominique Boutonnat resigned from his post in June after being convicted of sexual assault.

This is the third time France has shifted its Oscars selection committee procedure in recent years. In 2022, it removed voting power from the heads of the Cannes Film Festival, Unifrance and the César Academy, which followed a major overhaul in 2019 that brought industry professionals including sales agents, distributors and producers onto an expanded committee.

President of export body Unifrance Gilles Pellisson is allowed to attend the committee meetings as a non-voting observer.

The new committee will unveil its shortlist in the category tomorrow (September 11) before announcing its final selection a week later.

Contenders to make the shortlist include Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez, box-office hit The Count Of Monte-Cristo and Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia.

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