Press Release from: National Support Fund for Audiovisual Production / National Center for Audiovisual / National Selection Commission for the Oscars

The National Selection Committee for the Academy Awards has selected unanimously, by the members present at the deliberation, the Luxembourg film La Supplication to represent the Grand Duchy in the 89th edition of the Academy Awards in the category "Foreign Language Film Award".

This Luxembourg Production by Red Lion abd directed by Pol Cruchten is adapted from the novel by Svetlana Alexievitch, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2015, and puts into images the stories of victims of the Chernobyl disaster which occurred in 1986. The filming took place on site in Ukraine, the music is by André Mergenthaler and Luma Luma. Also involved in the production were Ingo Dumlich (chief sound editor), Wolfgang Wesemann (first assistant director), Harald Rude (1st picture assistant operator), Mark Russell (first assistant editor) and Philip Krieps (lead special effects and animation).

La Supplication had celebrated its Luxembourg premiere at the Luxembourg City Film Festival 2016. The Chernobyl documentary has received three international awards (the Cora Coralina prize at the Festival Internacional de Cinema e Video Ambiental in Brazil, the Grand Prix at the International Film Festival on the Environment (FIFE) in Paris and the best documentary of the Minneapolis St. Paul International film Festival in the United States). The film will be screened on 20 September 2016 on Arte and then released in French cinemas on 23 November 2016.

Nominations (short-list) for "Best Foreign Film" will be announced on 24 January 2017.

The national selection commission for the Oscars is composed of seven individuals representing the audiovisual sector in Luxembourg:

- Nicole Dahlen, Cinémathèque de la Ville de Luxembourg
- Guy Daleiden, Fonds national de soutien à la production audiovisuelle
- Alexandra Hoesdorff, Union luxembourgeoise de la production audiovisuelle (ULPA)
- Claude Lahr, Association des réalisateurs et des scénaristes (LARS)
- Sophie Langevin, Actors.lu
- Yves Steichen, Centre national de l’audiovisuel (CNA)
- Daniel Texter, Association luxembourgeoise des techniciens de l’audiovisuel (ALTA)