Palm Springs Film Fest: 'JoJo Rabbit,' Foreign-Language Oscar Candidates, Oliver Sacks Doc Join Lineup

The event, set to run Jan. 3-12, will screen 51 submissions for best international feature film Oscar consideration.

The 2020 Palm Springs International Film Festival will open with the Italian comedy An Almost Ordinary Summer and screen 51 submissions for best international feature film Oscar consideration, among many other titles, the festival announced Tuesday.

The event, which is set to run Jan. 3-12, will close with the Peter Cattaneo dramedy Military Wives; feature a special sidebar for Italian film; and play host to authors whose books were adapted into the films Hustlers, JoJo Rabbit and Motherless Brooklyn (it will also screen those films). One-hundred eighty-eight films in total will play across the festival from 81 countries. The fest will include seven world premieres, six North American bows and 33 U.S. debuts.

"It’s an extraordinary pleasure to be sharing this year’s festival lineup with the world, my first as Artistic Director,” PSIFF artistic director Lili Rodriguez said in a statement. “In tradition with previous years, we’ve looked back at an excellent year of international cinema and cherry-picked some of the best in the circuit, as well as some undiscovered gems. From award-winners and hopefuls to smaller, independent stories that stick with you, this year’s lineup showcases an exciting group of diverse and powerful voices."

The event, which has always highlighted international film, will enlist a jury of international film critics to choose honorees for the FIPRESCI Award for best foreign language film of the year, best actor, best actress and best screenplay.

See the full lineup below. The complete lineup is also available at PSIFF's website.

TALKING PICTURES & BOOK TO SCREEN

Hustlers (USA) with director Lorene Scafaria and “The Hustlers at Scores” author Jessica Pressler

JoJo Rabbit (USA) with Caging Skies author Christine Leunens

Motherless Brooklyn (USA) with author Jonathan Lethem

AWARDS BUZZ – BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM SUBMISSIONS

1982 (Lebanon), Director Oualid Mouaness

Adam (Morocco), Director Maryam Touzani

Ága (Bulgaria), Director Milko Lazarov

And Then We Danced (Sweden), Director Levan Akin

Antigone (Canada), Director Sophie Deraspe

Atlantics (Senegal), Director Mati Diop

The Awakening of the Ants (Costa Rica), Director Antonella Sudasassi Furnis

Beanpole (Russia), Director Kantemir Balagov

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (U.K.), Director Chiwetel Ejiofor

Buoyancy (Australia), Director Rodd Rathjen

The Chambermaid (Mexico), Director Lila Avilés

Commitment (Turkey), Director Semih Kaplano?lu (North American Premiere)

Corpus Christi (Poland), Director Jan Komasa

The Delegation (Albania), Director Bujar Alimani

Finding Farideh (Iran), Director Azadeh Moussavi, Kourosh Ataee

Gaza (Ireland), Director Gary Keane, Andrew McConnell

Gully Boy (India), Director Zoya Akhtar

Heroic Losers (Argentina), Director Sebastián Borensztein (U.S. Premiere)

Honeyland (North Macedonia), Director Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska

Incitement (Israel), Director Yaron Zilberman (U.S. Premiere)

Instinct (Netherlands), Director Halina Reijn

Invisible Life (Brazil), Director Karim Aïnouz

It Must Be Heaven (Palestine), Director Elia Suleiman

Les Misérables (France), Director Ladj Ly

Let There Be Light (Slovakia), Director Marko Skop

M for Malaysia (Malaysia), Director Dian Lee, Ineza Roussille

Monos (Colombia), Director Alejandro Landes

The Mover (Latvia), Director D?vis S?manis

Our Mothers (Belgium), Director Cesar Diaz

Out Stealing Horses (Norway), Director Hans Petter Moland

Pain and Glory (Spain), Director Pedro Almodóvar

The Painted Bird (Czech Republic), Director Václav Marhoul

Papicha (Algeria), Director Mounia Meddour

Parasite (South Korea), Director Bong Joon Ho

The Perfect Candidate (Saudi Arabia), Director Haifaa Al-Mansour

Queen of Hearts (Denmark), Director May el-Toukhy

The Red Pigeon (Pakistan), Director Kamal Khan

Retablo (Peru), Director Alvaro Delgado Aparicio

Spider (Chile), Director Andrés Wood

The Steed (Mongolia), Director Erdenebileg Ganbold

System Crasher (Germany), Director Nora Fingscheidt

Tel Aviv on Fire (Luxembourg), Director Sameh Zoabi

Those Who Remained (Hungary), Director Barnabás Tóth

Truth and Justice (Estonia), Director Tanel Toom (North American Premiere)

Tu Me Manques (Bolivia), Director Rodrigo Bellott

Verdict (Philippines), Director Raymund Ribay Gutierrez

Weathering With You (Japan), Director Makoto Shinkai

When Tomatoes Met Wagner (Greece), Director Marianna Economou

The Whistlers (Romania), Director Corneliu Porumboiu

A White, White Day (Iceland), Director Hlynur Palmason

Zana (Kosovo), Director Antoneta Kastrati (U.S. Premiere)

FOCUS ON ITALY

The Champion (Italy), Director Leonardo D’Agostini (North American Premiere)

The Disappearance of My Mother (Italy), Director Beniamino Barrese

Martin Eden (Italy/France/Germany), Director Pietro Marcello

Simple Women (Italy/Romania), Director Chiara Malta (U.S. Premiere)

Sole (Italy), Director Carlo Sironi

A Soul Journey (U.K./Italy), Director Marco Della Fonte (World Premiere)

The Traitor (Italy), Director Marco Bellocchio

MODERN MASTERS

About Endlessness (Sweden/Germany/Norway), Director Roy Andersson (U.S. Premiere)

Desert One (USA), Director Barbara Kopple

First Love (Japan), Director Takashi Miike

Mr. Jones (Poland/U.K./Ukraine), Director Agnieszka Holland

Nomad: In The Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin (U.K.), Director Werner Herzog

So Long, My Son (China), Director Wang Xiaoshuai

The Truth (France), Director Hirokazu Koreeda

Varda by Agnès (France/Germany), Director Agnès Varda

NEW VOICES NEW VISIONS

Arab Blues (France/Tunisia), Director Manele Labidi

Blow the Man Down (USA), Director Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy

The Good Intentions (Argentina), Director Ana García Blaya (U.S. Premiere)

Hearts and Bones (Australia), Director Ben Lawrence

Lara (Germany), Director Jan-Ole Gerster

Lina From Lima (Chile/Peru/Argentina), Director Maria Paz González (U.S. Premiere)

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan), Director Pawo Choyning Dorji (U.S. Premiere)

Murmur (Canada), Director Heather Young (U.S. Premiere)

Patrick (Belgium), Director Tim Mielants

A Son (France/Tunisia/Lebanon/Qatar), Director Mehdi M. Barsaoui (U.S. Premiere)

Song Without A Name (Peru/Spain/USA/Chile), Director Melina León

A Thief’s Daughter (Spain), Director Belén Funes

Workforce (Mexico), Director David Zonana (U.S. Premiere)

TRUE STORIES

Advocate (Israel/Canada/Switzerland), Director Rachel Leah Jones, Philippe Bellaiche

Ara Malikian. A Life Among Strings (Spain), Director Nata Moreno (U.S. Premiere)

The Australian Dream (Australia), Director Daniel Gordon

Billie (U.K.), Director James Erskine

The Capote Tapes (U,K,), Director Ebs Burnough

Coup 53 (U.K./USA/Iran), Director Taghi Amirani

David Foster: Off the Record (Canada), Director Barry Avrich (U.S. Premiere)

The Dog Doc (USA), Director Cindy Meehl

The Donut Dollies (USA/Vietnam), Director Norman Anderson

Forman vs. Forman (Czech Republic/France), Director Helena T?eštíková, Jakub Hejna

Free Color (USA/Venezuela/France), Director Alberto Arvelo (World Premiere)

I Am Not Alone (Armenia), Director Garin Hovannisian

The Kingmaker (USA), Director Lauren Greenfield

Leftover Women (Israel), Director Shosh Shlam, Hilla Medalia

Maxima (USA/Peru), Director Claudia Sparrow

The New Bauhaus (USA), Director Alysa Nahmias

Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band (Canada), Director Daniel Roher

Our Time Machine (China/USA), Director Yang Sun, S. Leo Chiang

Paris Stalingrad (France), Director Hind Meddeb, Thim Naccache

Red Penguins (USA/Russia), Director Gabe Polsky

Rewind (USA), Director Sasha Joseph Neulinger

Romantic Comedy (U.K.), Director Elizabeth Sankey

Searching for Mr. Rugoff (USA) Director Ira Deutchman

The Seer and the Unseen (Iceland/USA), Director Sara Dosa

Stevenson – Lost and Found (USA/France/Germany/New Zealand), Director Sally Williams

Talking About Trees (France/Sudan/Germany/Chad/Qatar), Director Suhaib Gasmelbari

This Is Not a Movie (Canada/Germany), Director Y?ung Chang

We Are the Radical Monarchs (USA), Director Linda Goldstein Knowlton

Zero Impunity (Luxembourg/France), Director Nicolas Blies, Stéphane Hueber-Blies (U.S. Premiere)

QUEER CINEMA TODAY & THE GAYLA

Born to Be (USA), Director Tania Cypriano

Changing the Game (USA), Director Michael Barnett

GAYLA Screening – Gay Chorus Deep South (USA), Director David Charles Rodrigues

Lingua Franca (USA/Philippines), Director Isabel Sandoval

Moffie (South Africa), Director Oliver Hermanus (North American Premiere)

Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (USA/UK), Director Ric Burns

GAYLA Screening – Portrait of a Lady on Fire (France), Director Céline Sciamma

Second Star on the Right (Colombia), Director Ruth Caudeli

Sequin in a Blue Room (Australia), Director Samuel Van Grinsven

Stage Mother (USA), Director Thom Fitzgerald (World Premiere)

Straight Up (USA), Director James Sweeney

Two of Us (France/Luxembourg/Belgium), Director Filippo Meneghetti (U.S. Premiere)

WORLD CINEMA NOW