Gustav Möller’s minimalist thriller ‘The Guilty‘ has been selected as Denmark’s official entry for the 2019 Foreign Language Oscar category.   ‘The Guilty’ is Gustav Möller’s feature debut. The film was selected from a shortlist that included Bille August’s ‘A Fortunate Man’ and Hlynur Pálmason’s ‘Winter Brothers.’

The Guilty’ by Gustav Möller takes place over one single night at an emergency call center, following a policeman’s race against time to save a kidnapped woman, with the phone as his only tool. The film won the Audience Award at its world premiere at Sundance and has since met with a warm critical reception across the board.

In Denmark, 139,000 tickets have been sold since it premiered in June, and in France, so far 260,000 cinema-goers have seen the thriller. The film is to be released in US theaters on 19 October by Magnolia Pictures, which also saw the US launch of the three Danish Oscar nominated films ‘A Royal Affair,’ ‘The Hunt’ and ‘A War.’

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the five nominations for the title as Best Foreign Language Film on 22 January. The 2019 winners will be announced on Oscar Night taking place in Los Angeles on 24 February.