Zvyagintsev, a director in exile represents France at the Oscars

Andrey Zvyagintsev returns to cinema after nearly a decade of production silence, and he does so with a film that intertwines his own condition as an exile with the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “Minotaur,” his new feature film, won the Grand Prix at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival and was chosen by France as its official candidate in the best international feature category at the 2027 Oscars, according to Euronews.

The film is a contemporary adaptation of “La Femme infidèle,” the classic directed by Claude Chabrol in 1969, transposed against the backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The choice to reread a French text to tell a conflict directly involving Russia is not accidental: Zvyagintsev moved to France in 2022, and “Minotaur” was produced as a co-production between France, Latvia and Germany, with filming carried out on Latvian territory.

The director, already an Oscar nominee with “Leviathan” and “Loveless” in the years before his departure from Russia, used the Cannes stage for a direct political gesture. During his Grand Prix acceptance speech, he addressed Vladimir Putin, calling for an end to hostilities: “End this massacre” (transl. from English), Zvyagintsev stated, as reported by Variety.

The French nomination carries particular weight precisely because of this dual nature of the project: a Russian-language film, directed by a filmmaker considered a dissident by Russia, presented to the world through the film institutions of a country that is not his own. France chose “Minotaur” as its representative in the Academy Award race, Euronews reports.

The film’s international journey continues with screenings at the New York Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival, ahead of its U.S. theatrical release scheduled for November 20, distributed by MUBI, as reported by The Film Stage. This is a calendar explicitly aimed at awards season, with the French nomination as a first step toward a possible nomination run.

Zvyagintsev’s story fits into a broader phenomenon that has swept through Russian cinema in recent years: that of filmmakers who, after the invasion of Ukraine, chose exile and continued working elsewhere, often with European productions that allow them to maintain a public voice without going through Moscow’s official channels. The case of “Minotaur” shows how this artistic diaspora now finds space in the most prestigious circuits of international cinema, from Cannes to the Oscar race, with a film that does not hide its linguistic and cultural origin despite being presented under the French flag.

It remains to be seen whether the U.S. Academy will include “Minotaur” in the final shortlist of candidates for the best international feature nomination, a decision expected in the coming months along with the designations of the other countries participating in the category.