THE IRISH FILM and Television Academy (IFTA) has selected its entry to vy for a chance of being nominated for the International Feature Film category at the 2026 Oscars.

Sanatorium, created by Irish filmmakers in the Ukrainian language, is set at a wellness centre in southern Ukraine near the frontlines of the war. It’s been described as an “incredibly unique and wryly humorous film”.

Irish films have had some good luck in the international category at the Oscars in recent years;  An Cailín Ciúin was nominated in 2023 and the Kneecap film was shortlisted in 2025. 

The Oscar International Feature Film category is a specific category for films produced in a language other than English. Each country can enter one film into the category in the hopes of becoming one of the nominated films.

Films sent by Ireland are usually in Irish, but have also included movies in other languages in the past, including Viva (Spanish, Oscar shortlisted in 2006), In The Shadow of Beirut (Arabic, 2024), Gaza (Arabic, 2019) and As If I Am Not There (Serbo Croatian, 2011).

The IFTA said that Sanatorium is a “vividly cinematic real-life observation of a community searching for love, healing and happiness within the confines of a wellness centre near Odesa in southern Ukraine”.

The film has “colourful characters”, with staff and visitors who are “determined to have a holiday away from the outside world, a moment in their lives to ‘restore’ themselves despite the war, with curious treatments including a mysterious black mud, said to cure infertility, physical disabilities and various other ailments”.

It was directed by Galway-born filmmaker Gar O’Rourke and produced by Venom Films by IFTA-winning Ken Wardrop and Andrew Freedman (His & Hers, Making the Grade), along with Samantha Corr.

It was co-produced by 2332 Films Ukraine and made with support from Screen Ireland, BBC Storyville, MetFilm Sales, France TV, and Creative Europe.

The film was edited by John Murphy, the editor of An Cailín Ciúin, with Denys Melnyk (Militantropos) as director of photography.

It had its world premiere in Copenhagen in late March and is due to be shown in Irish cinemas in September.