India's entry '2018' out of Oscars 2024 race but a film set in Jharkhand is in documentary shortlist

Tovino Thomas starrer Malayalam drama '2018' is out of the Oscars race.

India's official entry for the Oscars “2018”, a Malayalam film featuring Tovino Thomas and directed by Jude Anthany Joseph, failed to secure a spot on this year's Oscars shortlist. Despite its powerful narrative set against the backdrop of the devastating floods in Kerala, the film's absence is conspicuous in the fiercely competitive International Feature category.

The International Feature shortlist this year are:

Armenia, “Amerikatsi”
Bhutan, “The Monk and the Gun”
Denmark, “The Promised Land”
Finland, “Fallen Leaves”
France, “The Taste of Things”
Germany, “The Teachers’ Lounge”
Iceland, “Godland”
Italy, “Io Capitano”
Japan, “Perfect Days”
Mexico, “Totem”
Morocco, “The Mother of All Lies”
Spain, “Society of the Snow”
Tunisia, “Four Daughters”
Ukraine, “20 Days in Mariupol”
United Kingdom, “The Zone of Interest”

The sole film with an Indian connection is a Canadian entry titled "To Kill a Tiger," directed by Nisha Pahuja, in the Documentary Feature category.

This documentary is about a family in Jharkhand grappling for justice after their teenage daughter’s gangrape. Executive producers for the film are Mindy Kaling and Dev Patel.

The film's IMDb page says about the movie: "A cinematic, story-driven documentary, To Kill a Tiger follows Ranjit's uphill battle to find justice for his child. In India, where a rape is reported every 20 minutes and conviction rates are less than 30 percent, Ranjit's decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented."

The other shortlists in the Documentary Feature section are:
“American Symphony”
“Apolonia, Apolonia”
“Beyond Utopia”
“Bobi Wine: The People’s President”
“Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy”
“The Eternal Memory”
“Four Daughters”
“Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”
“In the Rearview”
“Stamped from the Beginning”
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”
“A Still Small Voice”
“32 Sounds”
“20 Days in Mariupol”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the shortlists in 10 categories for the 96th edition of the Oscars.

Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” is leading the race with five mentions in ten categories, followed by Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” with four.