Switzerland picks ‘Who Is Still Alive’ as its official Oscar submission for best international film

On its way to the Oscars, Switzerland has tapped Who Is Still Alive—a nonfiction portrait of nine Palestinian refugees who literally rebuild the streets they fled, using only memory—as the country’s official entry for Best International Feature Film. The pick was announced by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, putting the film into the Academy’s competitive international race.

The production shot in South Africa because Palestinians from Gaza can enter the country without a visa.

Directed by Nicolas Wadimoff, the 113‑minute documentary centers the refugees’ act of remembrance: they recreate their former Gaza neighborhoods from scratch, then walk viewers through those spaces as they recount what happened there. That conceit gives the film both its look and its emotional framework.

The project premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival in the Giornate degli Autori sidebar and has been making the rounds at documentary showcases since. Switzerland’s selection now puts it in front of Academy voters worldwide.

Wadimoff has explored Palestinian stories before, including Aisheen (Still Alive in Gaza) and The Apollo of Gaza. Who Is Still Alive continues that thread, scaling up the approach with a studio-like recreation built from the subjects’ own recollections.

Why it stands out

Documentaries seldom break into the International Feature lineup, but it happens. Recent exceptions like Honeyland, Collective and Flee earned recognition across categories, showing there’s room for nonfiction when a film connects.

Switzerland, meanwhile, has a long track record in the category, with two wins and five official nominations to date. If Who Is Still Alive advances, it would add another chapter to that history—this time with a doc at the forefront.

Each country can submit only one film for Best International Feature. The Academy typically unveils the category’s shortlist in December, followed by nominations in January.