LOS ANGELES — The deadline for countries to submit movies for the 2026 Oscars’ international feature category arrives Wednesday. And, as usual, the submissions — each country gets to select one film — have produced no shortage of grievances and outrage.

For starters: France picked Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning moral thriller “It Was Just an Accident.” Panahi has been arrested and imprisoned by the Iranian government on multiple occasions and is currently banned from making movies in the country. Not surprisingly, “It Was Just an Accident” isn’t Iran’s Oscar selection. Instead, it’s France taking up for Panahi, allowed under academy rules because the film is a French-funded production and Panahi is considered a French resident. (Losing out in turn are Netflix’s “Nouve

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