“Texan or Iranian?”: France Weighs Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague and Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident for 2026 Oscars
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, France’s Oscar selection committee is torn between two films: Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague (Wave of Change) and Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident. France has not won the Academy Award for Best International Feature in more than three decades, and in several past cases—such as two years ago, when The Taste of Things was chosen over Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall—unexpected decisions have contributed to its failures.
In 2022, France passed over Julia Ducournau’s controversial Palme d’Or winner Titane in favor of Audrey Diwan’s Golden Lion–winning Happening, whose narrative was tied to America’s Roe v. Wade ruling.
As IndieWire’s Anne Thompson reports, France faces a similar dilemma this year: choosing between Panahi’s bitter, political, non-French Palme d’Or winner and Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, a romantic homage to Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. Both films were made by non-French directors.
Netflix reportedly views Nouvelle Vague as more than just a festival film and plans to campaign for it not only in the International Feature category but also for Best Picture and Best Director.
If selected, Panahi could become the fourth Iranian filmmaker nominated for Best International Feature, following Majid Majidi, Asghar Farhadi, and Mohammad Rasoulof.
Linklater’s first French-language film stars French actor Guillaume Marbeck as Jean-Luc Godard and Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg, the actress of Breathless. Jean-Jacques Levessier, Judy Roth Forest, and Jonas Marmy also appear in the cast. The film focuses on the French New Wave movement and the behind-the-scenes making of Breathless. Legendary figures such as Jean-Pierre Melville, Éric Rohmer, Robert Bresson, and Jean Cocteau also appear as characters.
