UK Selects 'Rehearsals For A Revolution' for Oscars
The UK's Oscar submission and a new film about an actor's final role are in the awards spotlight.
Two distinct stories emerge in the awards landscape this week. The United Kingdom has officially chosen its contender for the Best International Feature Film Oscar. Separately, a new biographical film details an actor's poignant final performance under extraordinary circumstances.
UK's Oscar Submission
The United Kingdom has selected Pegah Ahangarani's Rehearsals For A Revolution as its official entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards. The film is a deeply personal debut feature from the Iranian filmmaker, exploring her experience of exile in London through five portraits of relatives and mentors. Sony Pictures Classics, which acquired the film out of the Cannes Film Festival, will give it qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles in December.
The distributor plans an exclusive opening at Landmark’s Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles and the Film Forum in New York on January 8, 2027, with a national rollout to follow. The film premiered as a Special Screening at Cannes, where it won the L’Oeil d’Or (Golden Eye) award. It also screened at the Telluride and Toronto International Film Festivals and recently received an Albie Award from the Maysles Documentary Center. A statement from Sony Pictures Classics called the selection "potentially transformative," noting it could open doors to global audiences and shine a spotlight on Ahangarani's voice.
Portrayal of Ian Charleson
The film Elsinore portrays a key period in the life of actor Ian Charleson, best known for starring in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. Andrew Scott plays Charleson in 1989, as the actor auditions for supporting roles and grapples with his career a decade after his cinematic breakthrough. The narrative focuses on Charleson being offered the role of Hamlet at the National Theatre after Daniel Day-Lewis's abrupt departure from the production, all while Charleson privately contends with an AIDS diagnosis.
A doctor attempts to get Charleson on the new drug AZT, but the actor is skeptical. The stigma of the era is palpable, illustrated by a moment where a doctor washes his hands after their consultation. Billie Piper plays his friend Patsy, a casting director who reveals he has been offered the Hamlet part. As rehearsals begin, Charleson must hide signs of his illness, like a spot of Kaposi Sarcoma, from the cast and crew. His costume designer friend Ralph, upon seeing it, recommends Dr. Margaret Johnson, played by Olivia Colman, who specializes in treating people with AIDS.
Colman's character pushes back against Charleson's single-minded drive to perform, telling him, "I don't like theater, I like movies." The film includes other figures from Charleson's life, such as an ex-boyfriend and a young AIDS patient played by Joe Locke, who seeks joy amid his illness. One sequence sees Charleson visit a dying friend in the hospital to affirm their love, then immediately return home to host a dinner party, forcing a swift shift from profound sadness to a mask of happiness.
