Oscars 2025: Spain Picks ‘Saturn Return’ for International Feature Race

Spain has picked Saturn Return, a 1990s-set biopic of Spanish indie rock band Los Planetas, to represent the country in the best international feature race for the 2025 Oscars. Directed by Isaki Lacuesta And Pol Rodríguez, Saturn Return premiered at the Malaga Film Festival, winning prizes for best director, best editing and best Spanish film. It has [...]

has picked , a 1990s-set biopic of Spanish indie rock band Los Planetas, to represent the country in the for the . Directed by Isaki Lacuesta And Pol Rodríguez, premiered at the Malaga Film Festival, winning prizes for best director, best editing and best Spanish film. It has been making the festival rounds, screening at the Seattle Film Festival, the Guadalajara Film Festival, and the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema.

The film focuses on the band’s origin story in the late 1990s in Granada when Los Planetas was facing a crisis just before the making of an album that would transform them, and the Spanish music scene, forever. Daniel Ibáñez, Cristalino, Stéphanie Magnin, Mafo, Chesco Ruiz, and Edu Rejón star in . Lacuesta and Fernando Navarro penned the screenplay.

Ikiru Films, La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Bteam Prods, Sideral Cinema, Los Ilusos Films, and Toxicosmos AIE produced the movie, which Bteam Pictures distributed in Spain. Lacuesta’s prviuos features include (2016), (2018), and (2022). Rodríguez directed the 2016 film .

Spain is a regular contender in the Best International Feature race, with 21 nominations, most recently last year with and 4 wins. The deadline for submissions for the 96th is Nov. 14, 2024.

The shortlist for best international feature contenders will be announced Dec. 17. Nominations will be announced Jan.

17, 2025. The 2025 Academy Awards will be held Sunday, March 2. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day More from The Hollywood Reporter.