List of submissions to the 78th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

This is a list of submissions to the 78th Academy Awards for the Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film every year since the award was created in 1956. The award is presented annually by the Academy to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films.

For the 78th Academy Awards, the submitted motion pictures must have first been released theatrically in their respective countries between 1 October 2004 and 30 September 2005. The deadline for submissions to the Academy was 3 October 2005. 62 countries submitted films, and 58 were found to be eligible by AMPAS and screened for voters. Bolivia, Netherlands, Singapore and Tajikistan were later disqualified by the Academy, leaving 54 eligible entries. Costa Rica, Fiji, and Iraq submitted films for the first time.. The five nominees were announced on 31 January 2006.

South Africa won the award for the first time with Tsotsi by Gavin Hood.

Submissions Submitting country Film title used in nomination Original title Language(s) Director(s) Result The Aura El aura Spanish Fabián Bielinsky Caché French Michael Haneke Shyamol Chhaya শ্যামল ছায়া Bengali Humayun Ahmed The Child L'enfant French Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne Say Good Morning to Dad Di buen día a papá Spanish, English, French Fernando Vargas Totally Personal Sasvim lično Serbian, English, Bosnian Nedžad Begović Two Sons of Francisco Dois Filhos de Francisco Brazilian Portuguese Breno Silveira Stolen Eyes Откраднати очи Bulgarian, Turkish C.R.A.Z.Y. French, English Jean-Marc Vallée Play Spanish, Mapudungun Alicia Scherson The Promise 无极 Mandarin Chen Kaige Wandering Shadows La sombra del caminante Spanish Ciro Guerra Caribe Spanish, Limonese Creole A Wonderful Night in Split Ta divna splitska noć Croatian, Serbian, English Arsen Anton Ostojić Viva Cuba Spanish Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti Something Like Happiness Štěstí Czech Bohdan Sláma Adam's Apples Adams æbler Danish Anders Thomas Jensen Shop of Dreams Stiilipidu Estonian Peeter Urbla The Land Has Eyes Pear ta ma ʻon maf Rotuman Vilsoni Hereniko Mother of Mine Äideistä parhain / Den bästa av mödrar Finnish, Swedish, Scanian Klaus Härö Joyeux Noël French, German, English Christian Carion Tbilisi-Tbilisi თბილისი-თბილისი Georgian Sophie Scholl – The Final Days Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage German Marc Rothemund Brides Νύφες English, Greek, Russian, Turkish, Italian Pantelis Voulgaris Perhaps Love 如果·愛 Cantonese, Mandarin Peter Chan Fateless Sorstalanság Hungarian, German, Yiddish, Hebrew, Polish Lajos Koltai Ahead of Time Í takt við tímann Icelandic Ágúst Guðmundsson Paheli पहेली Hindi, Marwari Amol Palekar Gie Indonesian, English, Mandarin Riri Riza So Close, So Far خیلی دور، خیلی نزدیک Persian Reza Mir Karimi Requiem of Snow شیوەنی بەفر Central Kurdish Jamil Rostami What a Wonderful Place איזה מקום נפלא Hebrew, Russian, Filipino, Tagalog, English, Thai Don't Tell La bestia nel cuore Italian, English Cristina Comencini Blood and Bones 血と骨 Japanese, Korean Yoichi Sai Renart the Fox Le Roman de Renart French Thierry Schiel To the Other Side Al otro lado Spanish, Arabic Gustavo Loza The Cave of the Yellow Dog Шар нохойн там / Die Höhle des gelben Hundes Mongolian Byambasuren Davaa Bluebird Dutch, English, French Mijke de Jong Kissed by Winter Vinterkyss Norwegian, Swedish, English Sara Johnsen Paradise Now الجنّة الآن Arabic, English Hany Abu-Assad Days of Santiago Días de Santiago Spanish Josué Méndez The Collector Komornik Polish Feliks Falk In the Darkness of the Night Noite Escura Portuguese, Russian João Canijo Cayo Spanish Vicente Juarbe The Death of Mr. Lazarescu Moartea domnului Lăzărescu Romanian Cristi Puiu The Italian Итальянец Russian, Italian, English Andrei Kravchuk Midwinter Night's Dream Сан зимске ноћи Serbian Goran Paskaljević Be with Me English, Singaporean Hokkien, Mandarin, Cantonese Eric Khoo The City of the Sun Slnečný štát Slovak, Czech Martin Šulík Ruins Ruševine Slovene Janez Burger Tsotsi Tsotsitaal, Setswana, Zulu, Sesotho, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English Gavin Hood Welcome to Dongmakgol 웰컴 투 동막골 Korean Park Kwang-hyun Obaba Spanish, Basque, German Montxo Armendáriz Zozo Swedish, Arabic Josef Fares One Long Winter Without Fire Tout un hiver sans feu French, Albanian The Wayward Cloud 天邊一朵雲 Mandarin Tsai Ming-liang Sex & Philosophy Ҷинс ва фалсафа / سکس و فلسفه Russian, Tajik Mohsen Makhmalbaf The Tin Mine มหา'ลัย เหมืองแร่ Thai Jira Maligool Lovelorn Gönül Yarası Turkish, Northern Kurdish Yavuz Turgul Alma mater Spanish 1888: The Extraordinary Voyage of the Santa Isabel 1888: El extraordinario viaje de la Santa Isabel The Buffalo Boy Mùa len trâu Vietnamese Nguyễn Võ Nghiêm Minh

Notes

Austria submitted Caché by Michael Haneke, but it was disqualified because the film was completely in French and not in a language indigenous to Austria, even after it submitted a German-dubbed print of the film. However, the Academy changed the rules removing the requirement that the films be in an official language of the submitting country. Bolivia submitted Say Good Morning to Dad by Fernando Vargas, but it was disqualified because a 35-mm print of the film did not arrive at the Academy in time. Greece submitted Brides by Pantelis Voulgaris, but it was disqualified after its official screening for being mostly in English and not in a foreign fanguage. Italy originally submitted Private by Saverio Costanzo, but it was disqualified because the film was completely in Arabic and Hebrew, and not in a language indigenous to Italy. The Italian Academy appealed the decision, but the committee submitted a second film, Don't Tell by Cristina Comencini. Nepal initially selected Basain by Subash Gajurel, but due to its release date, it was submitted the following year instead. The Netherlands submitted Bluebird by Mijke de Jong, but it was disqualified because it was too similar to a version previously aired on Dutch television; it was too late to select another Dutch film. Palestine submitted Paradise Now by Hany Abu-Assad, and it was referred to as such at the Golden Globes. However, Israeli officials, including Consul General Ehud Danoch and Consul for Media and Public Affairs Gilad Millo, tried to extract a guarantee from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that Paradise Now would not be presented in the ceremony as representing the State of Palestine, despite the fact it was introduced as such in the Academy Awards' official website. The Academy Awards began to refer to the film's country instead as "the Palestinian Authority", a decision that angered Abu-Assad, who said it represented a slap in the face for the Palestinian people and their national identity. The academy subsequently referred to it as a submission from the "Palestinian Territories". The Philippines failed to send a film for the first time in ten years after their Film Academy claimed they thought they hadn't been invited after the official invitation failed to reach their new address. Singapore submitted Be with Me by Eric Khoo, but it was disqualified after its official screening for being mostly in English and not in a foreign language. Tajikistan submitted Sex & Philosophy by Mohsen Makhmalbaf, but it was disqualified because a 35-mm print of the film did not arrive at the Academy in time. Uruguay reportedly submitted Alma mater by , but it did not appear on the final list of films sent to Academy voters. Venezuela submitted 1888: The Extraordinary Voyage of the Santa Isabel by , but their entry was delayed by two lawsuits: one against rival film Secuestro express by Jonathan Jakubowicz, that called for pulling it from circulation to delete a specific scene culled from news footage during a public rebellion against the Chavez regime, and a second lawsuit targetting Jakubowicz of fomenting illegal drug use and vilifying the nation's armed forces and its president. Secuestro express was eventually rejected as its entry. This led the Venezuelan Film Board to miss the deadline when the required entry forms didn’t arrive at AMPAS offices in time.

References