Thailand has selected Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s 9 Temples to Heaven as its submission for the best international feature category at the 99th Academy Awards.

The National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations, Thailand’s Oscar selection body, chose the film from 51 eligible titles after narrowing the field to eight. According to reports in the Thai press, the committee said it held several rounds of deliberations before settling on 9 Temples to Heaven, citing its distinctiveness, overall quality, profound subject matter and the reception it received from international critics after its Cannes debut.

The film world premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight section in May, becoming the first Thai feature selected for the sidebar in nearly two decades.

A gently comic family road movie, 9 Temples to Heaven follows businessman Sakol as he’s warned by a fortune teller that his ailing mother may soon die. Hoping to ward off the prophecy, he packs his mom and their extended family into a van for a single-day pilgrimage to nine Buddhist temples, where clashing beliefs and simmering tensions among the family steadily emerge as the elderly matriarch grows increasingly exhausted.

The film is Chidgasornpongse’s first narrative feature. He previously directed the documentary Railway Sleepers and spent roughly two decades working as an assistant director to acclaimed Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul on films including Tropical Malady, Syndromes and a Century, Cemetery of Splendour and Memoria. Apichatpong serves as a producer on 9 Temples to Heaven alongside Kissada Kamyoung.

Since Cannes, the film has picked up a number of honors on the festival circuit. Chidgasornpongse won best director in the Asian New Talent competition at the Shanghai International Film Festival, where Sompop Songkampol also took best actor. The film was picked up a jury prize at the New Zealand International Film Festival this week. It will make its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival this fall. Playtime is handling international sales.

9 Temples to Heaven is scheduled to open theatrically in Thailand on Sept. 17.

Thailand has yet to secure an Oscar nomination in the international feature category. Its closest showing came in 2024 with Pat Boonnitipat’s How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, which became the first Thai submission ever to reach the 15-title shortlist.

The 99th Academy Awards will be held March 14, 2027.

Romanian actress Alina Șerban (Housekeeping for Beginners, Alone at My Wedding, Gipsy Queen) is inviting us on a cinematic journey into the experience of being a Roma woman.

I Matter (Eu Contez), which she wrote and directed, is her feature directorial debut, and it will get its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on Sept. 8.

The movie, featured in the Venice Spotlight section of the fest, looks to break new ground. After all, it is described as “the first film by a Roma woman to be selected for an A-list festival,” and it brings, as the press notes highlight, “an intimate and empowering first-person perspective to the screen” as a young woman “struggles to keep [two] worlds from colliding.”

Șerban draws on her own experience to explore identity and belonging from a Roma woman’s perspective.

“Through Rebeca’s eyes, I want to invite the audience into this world and to understand what it is like to live as a minority in a society where being ‘normal’ so often means being white and growing up in a family,” she shares in a director’s note. “As a Roma woman, I have faced many difficulties that have shaped the way I see the world, including poverty, discrimination and even eviction from my childhood home. Growing up, I was made to feel ashamed of being Roma. It took me years to let go of that shame and embrace my culture. But it took me even longer to speak freely about what spending part of my youth in a children’s home meant to me.”

So, what’s I Matter about? “As she stands on the verge of leaving the orphanage she called home, Rebeca, a young Roma girl, clings to the hope that her father’s release from prison will finally give her the family she has always longed for,” reads a synopsis. “When she is accepted into university to study acting, life finally seems to be opening up for her. But just as Rebeca begins to find her place in this new world, the life she comes from starts to catch up with her.”

In other words: Rebeca struggles to keep her two worlds from colliding. “But as those worlds begin to close in around her, she is forced to make choices she can no longer postpone and to find a new way forward.”

Denisa Farcaș stars in the movie, along with Sorin Mihai, Angelina Pavel, Vanessa Dancea, Raisa Mihai, Alexandru Stancu, Alina Berzunțeanu and Natalia Călin. Radu Voinea handled cinematography, with Ion Ioachim Stroe editing the film.

I Matter is produced by Ada Solomon’s microFILM, 2PilotsFilmproduction, Frakas Productions in coproduction with ZDF – Das kleine Fernsehspiel in association with ARTE, Lemming Film Belgium, Avanpost Media, Orange & Be tv, Proximus, Shelter Prod, Romanian Television. Pluto Film is handling sales.

THR can now exclusively premiere a first-look clip from I Matter, plus the poster for the film (see above).

The scene from Șerban’s film stars Farcaș as Rebeca and Pavel in bed. It may be time to sleep, but they share dreams of a better future – before getting interrupted. Watch the exclusive clip from I Matter right here.

The Ozzy Osbourne biopic is one step closer to becoming a reality, as the script for the project in development at Sony Pictures is “done,” according to Jack Osbourne.

The late Black Sabbath frontman‘s son shared the film update in an interview with E! News Wednesday, where he shared how he hoped to give the fans a movie “they want.”

“You know, we’re doing the Ozzy movie with Sony. And, I’m always saying in the meetings, ‘We’ve got to give the fans what they want. We can’t make this artsy, kind of esoteric biopic,’” he said. “No, we’re not doing that—for many reasons—but it’s not what the fans want.”

He added: “Script [is] done. We’re currently going out to directors. Yeah, we are very – it’s gung-ho.”

When asked if he had someone in mind to play his legendary father, Osbourne confirmed that there is already a performer on their radar.

“We do. I’m not allowed to say,” he said. “But conversations have been had, and if it all works out, it’s going to be awesome.”

Regarding the Osbourne family’s controversial decision to turn the late Prince of Darkness into an AI avatar, the producer defended that “everything is going to have an AI fingerprint as some point.”

“Ultimately, it’s about preserving the digital fingerprint of my father,” he explained. “That’s the core essence of it. Yes, it could be utilized for other things. But, ultimately, it’s about getting ahead what is the inevitability.”

Osbourne’s update comes nearly five years after the rocker shared on X that Sony Pictures and Polygram Entertainment were developing a biopic chronicling his extraordinary life. Per the statement, the film would take a look at his career, as well as “the great love story between him and his wife, Sharon.”

“The film will be written by Academy Award nominee Lee Hall (‘Billy Elliot’),” the announcement added at the time.

The Osbourne patriarch died at the age of 76 in July 2025 following a heart attack. His passing followed a number of a health hurdles for the singer, including coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s disease.

His family, including Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis, issued a joint following his death, writing, “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”