Switzerland has selected Nicolas Wadimoff’s documentary Who Is Still Alive (Qui Vit Encore) as its official submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature. The film, which explores the loss of home against the backdrop of the Gaza War, had its world premiere in Venice at the 2025 Giornate degli Autori.
Who Is Still Alive tells the story of Gaza through the eyes of nine Palestinian refugees: Through their eyes, we discover a reality far removed from the images in the news. They move through a setting reduced to a sketchy chalk map with the outline of Gaza and the words of the protagonists. They recount life in the Gaza Strip before the war and their escape from hell – but also their resilience, creativity and hope. The protagonists were filmed in South Africa, one of the few countries where Palestinians from the Gaza Strip can enter without a visa.
In early 2026, the film received the Prix de Soleure at the Solothurn Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary at the Swiss Film Awards. It continues to screen at numerous international festivals, most recently in the Panorama Suisse section of the Locarno Film Festival.
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The film is Wadimoff’s third project that deals with Palestine, following 2010’s Still Alive in Gaza and 2018’s The Apollo of Gaza.
Who Is Still Alive was produced by Wadimoff, Philippe Coeytaux and Ketsia Stocker of Geneva-based production company Akka Films, where Wadimoff is a founder and producer. Co-producers include Paris-based Easy Rider Films, Palestine-Jordan company Philistine Films, UK outfit Cocoon Films and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse.
Watermelon Pictures, the distributor of last year’s Oscar-nominated pic The Voice of Hind Rajab, is set to release the film theatrically in the U.S. this fall. Swiss distributor is First Hand Films while Una Mattina is set to release the project in France in October. The title has also sold to countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America.
“Representing Switzerland at the Oscars with our film Qui Vit Encore is a great honor that fills us with joy,” said Wadimoff. “At the same time, it is a great responsibility to make the bodies and voices of the film’s protagonists visible and audible – all of them survivors of the hell of Gaza who were confronted with the unspeakable, yet remain alive and standing tall. It is also an opportunity to loudly and clearly champion the values that have made Switzerland what it should continue to be: a country of humanism and humanity, of dialogue, and of respect for others. We will do our best to live up to this selection.”
Previous films announced for the Best International Feature race include Dua for Kosovo, Flood for Slovakia and Like a Limbless Tree for Turkey.
The 99th Academy Awards takes place on March 14, 2027.