This is a list of submissions to the 91st 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 71st Academy Awards, the submitted motion pictures must have first been released theatrically in their respective countries between 1 November 1997 and 31 October 1998. The deadline for submissions to the Academy was 2 November 1998. 45 countries submitted films, and 44 were found to be eligible by AMPAS and screened for voters. Kyrgyzstan submitted a film for the first time, while Lebanon and Morocco made submissions for the first time since 1978 and 1977, respectively. The five nominees were announced on 9 February 1999.
Italy won the award for the thirteenth time, expanding its own record as the most winning country, with Life Is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni, which also won Best Actor (Roberto Benigni) and Best Original Dramatic Score, and was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.
Submissions Submitting country Film title used in nomination Original title Language(s) Director(s) Result Tango Tango, no me dejes nunca Spanish Carlos Saura The Inheritors Die Siebtelbauern Mühlviertlerisch Stefan Ruzowitzky Rosie Flemish Patrice Toye Central Station Central do Brasil Brazilian Portuguese, German Walter Salles August 32nd on Earth Un 32 août sur terre French, English Denis Villeneuve Genghis Khan 一代天骄成吉思汗 Mandarin, Mongolian and The Rose Seller La vendedora de rosas Spanish Víctor Gaviria Transatlantic Transatlantik Croatian Mladen Juran Sekal Has to Die Je třeba zabít Sekala Czech Vladimír Michálek The Celebration Festen Danish, German, English Thomas Vinterberg A Summer by the River Kuningasjätkä Finnish Markku Pölönen The Dreamlife of Angels La vie rêvée des anges French Erick Zonca Run Lola Run Lola rennt German Tom Tykwer Eternity and a Day Μια Αιωνιότητα και Μια Μέρα Greek, Italian, English Theo Angelopoulos Made in Hong Kong 香港製造 Cantonese Fruit Chan Gypsy Lore Romani kris - Cigánytörvény Hungarian, German, Lovari Romani Bence Gyöngyössy Count Me Out Stikkfrí Icelandic Jeans ஜீன்ஸ் Tamil S. Shankar Leaf on a Pillow Daun di Atas Bantal Indonesian Garin Nugroho Children of Heaven بچه هاي آسمان Persian Majid Majidi Circus Palestine קרקס פלשתינה Hebrew, Arabic, Russian Life Is Beautiful La vita è bella Italian, Tuscan, German Roberto Benigni Begging for Love 愛を乞う人 Japanese Hideyuki Hirayama Beshkempir Бешкемпир Kyrgyz Aktan Arym Kubat West Beirut غرب بيروت Arabic Ziad Doueiri Back in Trouble Luxembourgish, German, French Andy Bausch Macedonia Goodbye, 20th Century! Збогум на дваесеттиот век! Macedonian Darko Mitrevski and Aleksandar Popovski Under a Spell Un embrujo Spanish Carlos Carrera Mektoub مكتوب Arabic Nabil Ayouch The Polish Bride De Poolse bruid Dutch, Polish Only Clouds Move the Stars Bare skyer beveger stjernene Norwegian Torun Lian In the Navel of the Sea Sa Pusod ng Dagat Tagalog, Filipino Marilou Diaz-Abaya Anxiety Inquietude Portuguese Manoel de Oliveira Heroes from Another Country Heroes de otra patria Spanish, English Iván Dariel Ortiz Next Stop Paradise Terminus paradis Romanian Lucian Pintilie The Barber of Siberia Сибирский цирюльник Russian, English, German Nikita Mikhalkov Rivers of Babylon Slovak The Grandfather El abuelo Spanish José Luis Garci Show Me Love Fucking Åmål Swedish Lukas Moodysson War in the Highlands La guerre dans le Haut Pays French Francis Reusser Flowers of Shanghai 海上花 Shanghainese, Cantonese Hou Hsiao-hsien Who Is Running? ท้าฟ้าลิขิต Thai Oxide Pang Chun Chameleon Cameleon Welsh Ceri Sherlock Loop Rizo Spanish Julio Sosa Pietri The Powder Keg Буре барута Serbian, Croatian Goran Paskaljević
Notes Russia submitted The Barber of Siberia by Nikita Mikhalkov, but it was disqualified when the print did not arrive in Los Angeles on time for screening. Venezuela submitted Loop by Julio Sosa Pietri. It was selected by a four-member jury after the cinematography union boycotted the panel. The choice was criticized because jury chairman Lorenzo González Izquierdo owned the theater that gave the film its only screening. CNAC president Abdel Güerere asked AMPAS to let CNAC choose the jury, but González Izquierdo opposed this, saying it would invite corruption. References