Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Jallikattu out of Oscars 2021 race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has announced the list of 15 feature films that will compete to make it to the final five in the Best International Feature Film category. Unfortunately, Lijo Jose Pellissery’s ‘Jallikattu’, India’s official entry in the category, could not find a spot and found itself out of the race.

‘Jallikattu’ is one of the most talked about films in Indian cinema in recent years. The Malayalam language film is an action drama that explored the beastly side of man. Antony Varghese, Sabumon, Santhy Balachandran and Chemban Vinod played the lead roles. It is only the third Malayalam film after ‘Guru’ (1997) and ‘Adaminte Makan’ (2011) to represent India at the Oscars.

This year, films from 93 countries were eligible in the Best International Feature Film category, which is the most in Oscars history.

Here’s the final list of 15 films that got shortlisted:

Denmark, ‘Another Round’

Czech Republic, ‘Charlatan’

Bosnia and Herzegovina, ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’

Chile, ‘The Mole Agent’

Hong Kong, ‘Better Days’

Iran, ‘Sun Children’

France, ‘Two of Us’

Guatemala, ‘La Llorona’

Ivory Coast, ‘Night of the Kings’

Mexico, ‘I’m No Longer Here’

Norway, ‘Hope’

Romania, ‘Collective’

Russia, ‘Dear Comrades’

Taiwan, ‘A Sun’

Tunisia, ‘The Man Who Sold His Skin’

These 15 films will next move on to the official phase one voting, which will take place from March 5-9. The Oscar nominations will be announced on March 15. The show is scheduled to be held on April 25.