This is a list of submissions to the 70th 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 70th Academy Awards, the submitted motion pictures must have first been released theatrically in their respective countries between 1 November 1996 and 31 October 1997. The deadline for submissions to the Academy was 3 November 1997. 44 countries submitted films and were found to be eligible by AMPAS and screened for voters. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Luxembourg and Ukraine submitted films for the first time. The five nominees were announced on 10 February 1998.
The Netherlands won the award for the third time with Character by Mike van Diem.
Submissions Submitting country Film title used in nomination Original title Language(s) Director(s) Result Ashes of Paradise Cenizas del paraíso Spanish Marcelo Piñeyro The Unfish Der Unfisch German Robert Dornhelm My Life in Pink Ma vie en rose French Alain Berliner Four Days in September O Que É Isso, Companheiro? Brazilian Portuguese Bruno Barreto Cosmos French Jennifer Alleyn, Manon Briand, Marie-Julie Dallaire, Arto Paragamian, André Turpin and Denis Villeneuve The Debt La deuda Spanish Manuel José Álvarez and Nicolás Buenaventura Lapitch the Little Shoemaker Čudnovate zgode šegrta Hlapića Croatian, Dutch, English, German Milan Blažeković Vertical Love Amor vertical Spanish A Forgotten Light Zapomenuté světlo Czech Vladimír Michálek Democratic Republic of the Congo Macadam Tribe Macadam tribu French Zeka Laplaine Barbara Danish, Faroese, Norwegian, French Nils Malmros Destiny المصير / Le Destin Arabic, French, Spanish Youssef Chahine The Collector Neitoperho Finnish Auli Mantila Western French Manuel Poirier Beyond Silence Jenseits der Stille German, German Sign Language, English, Spanish Caroline Link Slaughter of the Cock Η Σφαγή του Κόκορα Greek, Cypriot Greek, English, Ancient Greek Andreas Pantzis The Witman Boys Witman fiúk Hungarian János Szász Blossi/810551 Icelandic Júlíus Kemp Guru ഗുരു Malayalam Rajeev Anchal Gabbeh گبه Persian, Qashqai Mohsen Makhmalbaf Pick a Card עפולה אקספרס Hebrew, English The Best Man Il testimone dello sposo Italian Pupi Avati Princess Mononoke もののけ姫 Japanese Hayao Miyazaki Women Elles French, Portuguese Macedonia Gypsy Magic Џипси меџик Balkan Romani, English, Macedonian, Hindi Stole Popov Deep Crimson Profundo carmesí Spanish Arturo Ripstein Character Karakter Dutch, German, French Mike van Diem Junk Mail Budbringeren Norwegian Pål Sletaune Milagros Tagalog, Filipino Marilou Diaz-Abaya Love Stories Historie miłosne Polish Jerzy Stuhr Journey to the Beginning of the World Voyage au début du monde / Viagem ao Princípio do Mundo French, Portuguese Manoel de Oliveira The Thief Вор Russian Pavel Chukhray Orbis Pictus Slovak Martin Šulík Outsider Avtsajder Slovene, Bosnian The Clown Paljas Afrikaans Katinka Heyns Secrets of the Heart Secretos del corazón Spanish Montxo Armendáriz Tic Tac Swedish, Italian Daniel Alfredson For Ever Mozart French Jean-Luc Godard Yours and Mine 我的神經病 Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien Wang Shaudi Daughter 2 เสียดาย 2 Thai Chatrichalerm Yukol The Bandit Eşkıya Turkish Yavuz Turgul A Friend of the Deceased Приятель покойника / Приятель небіжчика Russian, Ukrainian, English Viacheslav Kryshtofovych One Life and Two Trails Una vida y dos mandados Spanish Three Summer Days Три летња дана Serbian Mirjana Vukomanović
Notes The Netherlands originally submitted All Stars by Jean van de Velde. However, the filmmakers withdrew the film from consideration in support of Character by Mike van Diem, which would eventually be submitted and go on to win Best Foreign Language Film.
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