Best Foreign Language Film
The Official Submission List
Albania to France / Georgia to The Netherlands / Norway to Vietnam
Once upon a time The Film Experience was virtually the only website that compiled all this information. Now, virtually every awards site and many random movie sites cover the foreign language film submissions as they are announced. I'm no longer the soul source of info for this category -- something that fills me with both joy (people are paying attention...) and panicky melancholy (...and they don't have to pay attention to me to do it!) -- but I still compile them in the most comprehensive chart for the ease of your reference. Information herein is culled from all over the web, official sites, trades, e-mails from international readers and film professionals and my own research.
Related: Google map of this category | Oscar records by country |2008 Foreign Language Race
10/07 t he official submission list is not announced until mid October -- NOTHING is sure until then (I've been doing this a long time and there have been sudden changes of heart in terms of submissions as well as immediate disqualifications and replacements). If a film has been officially announced by its home country it is colored gold on this chart
| Georgia
to Morocco |
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| Germany |
Greece 5 noms / 0 wins Slaves in Their Bonds d. Tony Lykouressis |
Hong
Kong 5 nominations Prince of Tears d. Yonfan |
Hungary |
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no
US distributor |
Sony
Pictures Classic December 29th, 2009 |
no
US distributor |
no
US distributor |
no
US distributor |
| details 90 min (Georgian) genre tba starring tba synopsis a mother and son flee from ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia misc a nominee for the EFA Discovery prize. It's up against the Israeli submission and a few other films that were not submitted. Here's the list. |
details 144 min (German) genre HANEKE (he's his own genre, people) starring Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Tukur, Theo Trebs and many more synopsis strange accidents begin to occur within a children's choir in Germany in a small village on the eve of World War I. Because it's a Haneke film it's better not to worry about the plot. Just absorb the provocative questions asked misc Haneke is a master. The White Ribbon won the Palme D'Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival |
details ... min (Greek) genre ... starring ... synopsis ... not selected Dogtooth by Giogros Lanthimos, which will be released by Kino International in the US, has been a hit on the festival circuit |
details 120 min (Mandarin) genre historical drama starring Wing Fan, Joseph Chang, Zhu Xuan and Terri Kwan synopsis set in 1950's Taiwan, it's about the "White Terror" when martial law was imposed in Taiwan and fear of communists was rampant misc ... |
details 108 min (Hungarian) genre drama thriller starring Nagy Ervin, Hamori Gabriella and Trill Zsolt synopsis an office cleaner / con artist with a talent for assuming different personalities sets his sights on the daughter of a millionaire misc ... |
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| Iceland |
Indonesia never nominated Jamila and the President Ratna Sarumpaet |
Israel 8 nominations Ajami Scander Copti & Yaron Shani |
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US distribution |
no
US distribution |
no
US distribution |
Here
Media 2010 TBA |
Kino
International 2010 TBA |
details 88 min (Icelandic) genre Thriller starring Icelandic stars Baltasar Kormákur (Angels of the Universe, 101 Reykjavik) and Ingvar Eggert Sigurdsson (Jar City, Cold Light) synopsis a former security guard decides to take one last smuggling job with a friend misc ... |
details 95 min genre Movies about Movies starring Nandu Madhav and Vibhavari Deshpande, Mohit Gokhale, Atharva Karve, Dilip Joglekar, Ketan Karande, Dhiresh Joshi, Sandip Pathak and Vaibhav Mangle synopsis The story of the making of India's first feature film "'Raja Harishchandra" in 1913 and the birth of the world's largest film industry (i.e. Bollywood) misc ... |
details tba genre Women's Prison Drama starring Eva Celia and Atiqah Hasiholan as Jamila and Christine Hakim synopsis a prostitute is serving a life sentence in prison. Her sentence is elevated to the death penalty. misc ... |
details 119 min (Farsi, German) genre Drama starring Taraneh Alidoosti synopsis a young teacher (the title character) disappears in Iran. misc ... |
details 120 min (Arabic, Hebrew) genre crime drama misc Ajami is the name of a neighborhood in Jaffa where Jews, Muslims and Christians all live. The film stars largely amateur actors not selected Ophir nominees: The Venice winner Lebanon, Hayu Leylot (named after this song) about a father and daughter, Ha-Bodedim (The Lonely) about Russian soldiers taking hostages in an army prison, and Sippur Gadol (A Matter of Size) a comedy about four fat men who decide to become sumo wrestlers. The Weinstein Brothers bought the rights for an American remake. |
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| Italy 26 noms / 10 wins Baaria Giuseppe Tornatore |
Kazakhstan 1 nomination Kelin d. Ermek Tursunov |
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no
US distribution |
no
US distribution |
no
US distribution |
Magnolia
Pictures |
no
US distribution |
| details 150 min (Italian, Sicilian) genre Historical Drama starring Raoul Bova (mmm), Margareth Made, Francesco Scianna, Enrico Le Verso, Leo Gullotta andAngela Molina synopsis story of three generations in the Sicilian village Bagheria misc Tornatore, who won the Oscar for Cinema Paradiso was born in the title village |
details 118 min (Japanese) genre drama starring Kôichi Satô and Mirai Shida synopsis a young girl becomes a target of the media and web-fueled persecution when her brother is arrested for homicide. A cop, who has troubles of his own, is sent to protect her. misc Satô, who plays the cop, is one of the Japanese Academy's favorites. He's won their Oscar four times. |
details 84 min (no dialogue!!!) genre ancient drama starring Gulsharat Zhubayeva, Kuandyk Kystykbaev and Erzhan Nurymbet synopsis a woman is given to a rich suitor instead of to her true love. Her love takes a blood oath to win her back. misc This is Tursunov's directorial debut (he previously wrote screenplays) |
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details 140 min (Lithuanian) genre Drama starring Giedrius Kiela, Diana Aneviciute, Oksana Borbat, Jevgenija Verenica, Vladimiras Jefremovas, Jurate Onaityte, Valentinas Masalskis, Valentinas Novopolskis, Egle Mikulionyte, Darius Meskauskas synopsis the life story of a man who was "broken by the Soviet gloom". misc Told in black and white in three chapters: childhood, adolescence and adulthood |
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Mexico 7 noms / 0 wins Backyard Carlos Carrera |
The
Netherlands 7 noms/ 3 wins Winter in Wartime Martin Koolhoven |
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no
US distribution |
no
US distribution |
no
US distribution |
no
US distribution |
no
US distribution |
| details tba genre WW II Drama (Oscar's favorite genre in this category) starring Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet (from Love Songs. Yay!) synopsis about the men who refused to fight alongside the Germans in WWII and instead hid in the iron mines in Luxembourg misc more about the film |
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details min () genre crime thriller starring Ana de la Reguera and Jimmy Smits synopsis a detective seeks answers in a series of female murders. It's a fictional account of ongoing real life tragedies for women in Ciudad Juárez misc Carrera also directed Oscar nominee The Crime of Father Amaro not selected: The runner up was presumably Desierto Adentro (The Desert Within) which Mexico submitted to the Goyas along with Backyard. The 6 other finalists were Bajo la sal, Cinco días sin Nora, Los Bastardos, Los Herederos, Rudo Y Cursi and I'm Going to Explode. |
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