Zvyagintsev's Cannes Grand Prix winner is on Germany's Oscar longlist. France, as primary producer, has until September to decide whether to claim it.

Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Minotaur" won the Grand Prix at Cannes this May. Now it faces a stranger competition: which country gets to send it to the Oscars.

The film is a French-German-Latvian co-production, shot in Latvia. Germany placed it on its Oscar longlist for Best International Film with one caveat. It was the only title marked "provisional," because France, as primary producer through Paris-based MK2 and CG Cinema, has yet to decide whether to claim the film as its own entry. According to Deadline, that decision is expected by the end of September.

Set in Russia in 2022, "Minotaur" follows Gleb (Dmitriy Mazurov), a company director whose controlled existence unravels under corporate pressure, marital betrayal, and an increasingly unstable world. What begins as a domestic drama moves toward a reckoning with conscription, state violence, and moral collapse. The Hollywood Reporter described it as a Chabrol remake relocated to a contemporary Russian setting.

Zvyagintsev, now living in exile, made the film's subtext plain at the Cannes podium. According to Variety, he addressed Putin directly in his acceptance speech, calling on him to "put an end to this carnage." His two previous Oscar nominations, for "Leviathan" and "Loveless," came under the Russian flag. That will not happen this time.

MUBI holds North American and UK rights. "Minotaur" will screen at the New York Film Festival this fall and has already won the Sydney Film Festival Prize. The Oscar path runs through France or Germany. Not Russia.