Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

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The Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Foreign Language Film is a yearly US award for the best film in a language other than English, released in the period October - September in the country of origin. [1] It is awarded to the director of the film, but is considered an Award for the country of origin.

Each year in each country a jury in that country can select the best non-English film of that country they may submit to the Academy. These form the so-called longlist. Five of these are nominated. One of them wins. Below, the winning film is preceded by its country's flag and the four non-winning nominated films are listed after it.

The 79th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best in film for 2006, was held on February 25, 2007 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California.

As an Honorary Award

As a category in its own right

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

Official National Submissions to the Academy Awards

For many years, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has invited each country to select one film to compete in the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. All of the competing films are then screened by a special committee of Academy members, who give each film a rating, with the highest-ranking films receiving nominations.

Some[citation needed] have complained that this "one film per country" law is unfair because prolific film-making countries (particularly France,India, Italy and Spain) may have several films worthy of being nominated. Others have said that the system is unfair because the nominating bodies in each respective country have often been subject to political or other influences, leading them to reject certain films for political reasons, or select films based on the connections of individual directors or studios.

Proponents of the system however argue that the system is the only way that films from smaller countries can compete. Without allowing them equal footing to major releases from established film-making countries, filmmakers from countries like Georgia, Nepal and South Africa (all of whom have been nominated recently) might have difficulty getting their films seen by Academy members.

Approximately one hundred countries have sent films to compete in this category over the years. However, only eleven countries have correctly submitted a picture every year for the past twenty years. They are: Argentina, Canada, France, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, Spain and Taiwan. Only two countries have had a film accepted every year for the past forty years: France and Hungary.

Of those countries who have had their films accepted by the Academy more than five times, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Indonesia, Korea (South), Lebanon, Peru, the Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Thailand, Turkey and Venezuela have never been nominated in this category. Croatia, Serbia and Slovakia have never formally been nominated, but films from these republics were nominated when they were part of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Portugal holds the record for the most submissions without receiving a nomination.

Of particular note is India: the world's most prolific film-making and film-viewing country has never won an academy award, and has only been nominated three times with Mother India, Salaam Bombay! and Lagaan.


Template:Submissions for Academy Award for Best Foreign Film

Nominations and Awards by Country

Country Awards Nominees
 Italy 13 [1] 27
 France 12 [1] 34
 Spain 4 19
 Soviet Union/ Russia 4 13
 Germany 3 [2] 15 [3]
 Sweden 3 14
 Japan 3 [1] 11
 Netherlands 3 7
 Denmark 2 7
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 2 6
 Switzerland 2 5
 Hungary 1 8
 Argentina 1 5
 Algeria
 Canada 		1 4
 Czech Republic
 Taiwan 		1 3
 South Africa 1 2
 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Ivory Coast
1 1
 Mexico
 Poland 		- 7
 Israel
 Yugoslavia
- 6
 Belgium - 5
 Brazil
 Greece
 Norway 		- 4
 India - 3
 China
 Hong Kong
 United Kingdom 		- 2
 Austria
 Cuba
 Finland
 Iceland
 Georgia
 Iran
 North Macedonia
 Nepal
 Nicaragua
Palestinian Authority
 Puerto Rico
 Uruguay
 Vietnam 		- 1
  1. ^ including 3 Special/Honorary Awards
  2. ^ 2 as Germany, 1 as German Federal Republic
  3. ^ 6 for Germany, 8 for German Federal Republic, 1 for German Democratic Republic

External links


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