Berlinale Film ‘My Little Sister’ to Compete for International Feature Film Oscar

Switzerland has selected “My Little Sister,” starring Nina Hoss, Lars Eidinger and Marthe Keller, as its entry in the International Feature Film category of the 93rd Academy Awards. Film Movement is distributing the film in North America.

The film, directed by Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond, and produced by Ruth Waldburger at Vega Film, had its world premiere in February in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.

Beta Cinema is handling global sales on “My Little Sister,” which has been sold to more than 10 countries. It will receive its theatrical release in Switzerland in early September through Praesens-Film and Vega Distribution, and in Germany and Austria in October through Weltkino.

Hoss and Eidinger play the twins Lisa, once a playwright, and Sven, a well-known stage actor who is seriously ill. Lisa, refusing to accept this stroke of fate, moves heaven and earth to get Sven back on stage, and puts her marriage on the line in the process.

“My Little Sister” is the second narrative feature film by Chuat and Reymond, who both trained as actresses. Their debut feature “The Little Bedroom” (2010) was also produced by Vega Film. It received two Swiss Film Awards and was also Switzerland’s entry for the Oscars. The film was followed in 2018 by their documentary feature “Ladies,” which was given a theatrical release in Swiss cinemas.

In June, the submission deadline for the International Feature Film Oscar was extended to Dec. 1, giving countries more time to come to a decision about their entry in the International Feature Film category.

Earlier this month, Poland selected “Never Gonna Snow Again” as its candidate. The film, which premieres in the main competition section of the Venice Film Festival next month, was written and directed by Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert.

The award for the best International Feature Film, previously known as the Foreign Language Film Oscar, at the 92nd Academy Awards was won by South Korea’s “Parasite,” directed by Bong Joon Ho.