Klaudia Reynicke’s REINAS enters the Oscar® Race as the offical Swiss entry for the Academy Awards®

25.09.2024

On behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, the selection committee has made its decision: REINAS will be submitted as the official Swiss entry in the race for a nomination in the International Feature Film category of the 97th Academy Awards. After celebrating its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in the USA, REINAS went on to win over the audience and the jury at the Berlinale. In August, the poignant family drama was honoured with the Piazza Grande Audience Award in Locarno.

REINAS is Klaudia Reynicke’s third feature-length film. The Swiss-Spanish-Peruvian coproduction is set in 1992, in the throes of social and political upheaval in Lima. The plot: Elena, a single mother plans to leave the country with her daughters Lucía and Aurora. While the girls grow closer to their previously absent father, the impending farewell from home and family draws ever nearer.

The two young actresses Luana Vega and Abril Gjurinovic, who play the two sisters, are especially touching in the leading roles. The well-known Peruvian actors Gonzalo Molina and Jimena Lindo play their parents. The grande dame of Spanish film, Susi Sanchez, shines in the role of the grandmother.

The Geneva-based production company Alva Film (Britta Rindelaub, Thomas Reichlin) coproduced the film with Maretazo Cine in Peru, Inicia Films in Spain and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse. Worlds sales have been acquired by The Yellow Affair.

REINAS has so far been sold to over a dozen territories worldwide, including Germany, Italy, Brazil, Peru, North America and Indonesia. The film is already screening in cinemas in Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Spain (BTEAM Pictures) and Peru (Tondero Distribución). Outsider Pictures Distribution will release REINAS in cinemas in the USA and Puerto Rico and distributor Films We Like in Canada on November 29.

International Festival Success

In January 2024, REINAS celebrated its world premiere in competition at the Sundance Film Festival in the USA, the first Swiss feature film ever to do so. Shortly thereafter, it was honoured with the Grand Prix of the International Jury for the Best Film of the Generation Kplus Competition at the Berlinale.

In August, the film celebrated its Swiss premiere on the Piazza Grande of the Locarno Film Festival and won the Prix du public. The film has also been screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival, the Sarajevo Film Festival and the Lima Film Festival. As part of the Zurich Film Festival at the beginning of October, SWISS FILMS, in collaboration with SRG SSR and the festival, has invited industry professionals to a private screening of REINAS.

The Oscar® campaign in North America will be launched with the screening of REINAS at the Mill Valley Festival in California in October, with director Klaudia Reynicke and producer Britta Rindelaub in attendance.

After studying Anthropology and Sociology in Geneva and Lausanne, Swiss-Peruvian director Klaudia Reynicke went on to study Film in Lausanne. Her first two films, IL NIDO (2016) and LOVE ME TENDER (2019), enjoyed considerable international success after premiering at the Locarno Film Festival. Klaudia Reynicke is represented in English-speaking countries by Justin Littman from the talent agency The Gotham Group.

SWISS FILMS supports the Oscar campaign

On behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture (FOC), the film promotion agency SWISS FILMS coordinates the selection process for the official Swiss entry in the International Feature Film category of the Academy Awards and supports the promotion campaign of Switzerland’s entry with financial and communication resources.

This year, the decision on the Swiss Oscar® entry was made for the first time in a two-stage process. In August, the seven-member selection committee commissioned by the Federal Office of Culture announced that REINAS and DOG ON TRIAL by Laetitia Dosch had been shortlisted.

The shortlist comprised of 15 films from various countries submitted for the International Feature Film category will be announced by the AMPAS on December 17, 2024, followed by the announcement of the nominated films on January 17, 2025. The 97th Academy Awards (Oscars®) ceremony will take place in Los Angeles on March 2, 2025.

Statement of the selection committee 

“Set during the political and economic crisis of the 90s in Lima and inspired by her own emigration from Peru to Switzerland and the USA, Klaudia Reynicke’s coming-of-age drama REINAS seduces with an incredibly charming cast. Reynecke’s third feature delicately portrays two young sisters who meet their mostly absent father, who appears out of nowhere. As the father tries to stretch his remaining time with his daughters, the former family is challenged in its intentions, wishes and loyalties. REINAS is a tender and subtly told story by a Swiss director which has already proven to touch the hearts of a world-wide audience.”

Source: SWISS FILMS