The Swiss Federal Office of Culture (FOC) is submitting Nicolas Wadimoff’s Who Is Still Alive as Switzerland’s official entry into the race for a nomination for the 99th Academy Awards – International Feature Film category.
The documentary, which explores the loss of home against the backdrop of the Gaza War, celebrated its world premiere in Venice at the 2025 Giornate degli Autori, where it won the Cinema & Art Award. In early 2026, Who Is Still Alive (Qui vit encore) received the Prix de Soleure at the Solothurn Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary at the Swiss Film Awards. The film continues to screen at numerous international festivals, most recently in the Panorama Suisse section of the Locarno Film Festival.
Who Is Still Alive (Qui vit encore) is a powerful film about loss and identity in dark times of war. It 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.
This is director Wadimoff’s third film dealing with Palestine, following Aisheen (Still Alive In Gaza) in 2010, and The Apollo of Gaza (2018). Filming had to be organized in South Africa, one of the few countries where Palestinians from the Gaza Strip can enter without a visa.
Who Is Still Alive was produced by Nicolas Wadimoff, Philippe Coeytaux, and Ketsia Stocker of the Geneva-based production company Akka Films, where Wadimoff also serves as founder and producer. Co-producers include Easy Rider Films (Paris), Philistine Films (Palestine/Jordan), Cocoon Films (London), and RTS Radio Télévision Suisse.
In the US, the distributor Watermelon Pictures will release the film in theaters this Autumn. Watermelon Pictures also handled the distribution of the multi-award-winning, Oscar-nominated Tunisian film The Voice of Hind Rajab.
The Swiss distributor is First Hand Films and the film will be released in French theaters in October (distributor: Una Mattina). So far, Who Is Still Alive has also been sold to countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America.
The promotional agency SWISS FILMS coordinates the selection process for the official Swiss entry in the International Feature Film category of the Academy Awards and will provide financial and communications support for the promotional campaign of the Swiss selection.
Comments director Nicolas Wadimoff: “Representing Switzerland at the Oscars with our film [Who Is Still Alive] is a great honor that fills us with joy. 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.”
The shortlist of 15 films from the various countries that have submitted entries for the International Feature Film category will be published by the AMPAS on December 15, 2026. The announcement of the five nominated titles will follow on January 21, 2027. The 99th Academy Awards® ceremony will take place on March 14, 2027, in Los Angeles.
