Film Fund Luxembourg and D’Filmakademie have announced that Breathing Underwater (Hors d’haleine) will represent Luxembourg at the 98th Academy Awards (Oscars).
This year again, D’Filmakademie appointed a selection committee responsible for choosing the film to compete for Luxembourg in the “Best International Feature Film” category at the 2026 Oscars. The Oscars ceremony is scheduled to take place on Sunday 15 March 2026.
The committee unanimously selected Breathing Underwater, the first feature film by Luxembourgish director Eric Lamhène, produced by Samsa Film. The choice recognises both the emergence of a new talent and the boldness of a work that aims to bring Luxembourg cinema to the international stage. Committee members praised the film as a powerful and empathetic drama, highlighting the resilience of women in the face of invisible wounds.
Synopsis: Emma wakes up in a hospital bed, covered in bruises and, to her surprise, pregnant. Instead of returning to her husband, she chooses to stay in a shelter for women and children, where she rediscovers fragments of her lost self and forges a healing sisterhood.
The cast includes Carla Juri (Emma), Véronique Tshanda Beya (Khadij), Esperanza Martin González-Quevedo (Esperanza), Alessia Raschella (Sascha), Sascha Ley (Tania) and Luc Schiltz (Marc).
The film was directed by Eric Lamhène and written by Rae Lyn Lee and Eric Lamhène, with cinematography by Rae Lyn Lee. It was produced by Claude Waringo (Samsa Film) with co-producer Patrick Quinet (Artémis Productions, Belgium).
The selection committee was composed of: Fred Neuen, President of D’Filmakademie Luxembourg; Sarah Bamberg, Executive Assistant at Film Fund Luxembourg; Fabien Renelli, Producer, Mélusine Studio; Alexandra Hoesdorff, Producer, Deal Productions; Aude-Laurence Clermont, actress and director; Anne Schiltz, author and director; Linda Blaschette, cinematographer and director.
The film has already received international recognition, winning the Special Jury Prize and the Cineuropa Prize at the 2024 European Film Festival Lecce, and holding its world premiere at the 2024 Warsaw International Film Festival.
