Every year since its inception, the Japanese Academy has awarded the Japan Academy Film Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language Film (). The year that any given film is nominated is not based on the film's domestic release date but rather on the date it is released in Japan. As delays of over four months are not uncommon, many films are nominated in Japan the year following their release to the Japanese market (e.g., Million Dollar Baby won the American Academy Award for Best Picture for films made in 2004, but the Japanese award, based on its local release date, is for 2005). In fact, not one of the five films nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for Best Picture had been released in Japan by February 15, 2008, the date of the Japan Academy Prize Ceremony.
Although the 2007 recipient of this award, Letters from Iwo Jima, a film almost entirely in Japanese, would not seem to meet the qualification of a "Foreign Language Film", the actual Japanese title of the award, makes no mention of language. It would be more accurately translated as "Best Foreign Production".
Winners and nominees 2026 – Conclave Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning One Battle After Another F1
2025 – Oppenheimer Poor Things The Zone of Interest Civil War Laapataa Ladies
2024 – Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Killers of the Flower Moon Barbie Driving Madeleine Tár
2023 – Top Gun: Maverick RRR Avatar: The Way of Water CODA Spider-Man: No Way Home
2022 – No Time to Die Dune Minari Nomadland Tailor
2021 – Parasite Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Ford v Ferrari 1917 Tenet
2020 – Joker Yesterday Green Book The Mule Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2019 – Bohemian Rhapsody The Greatest Showman The Shape of Water Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Mission: Impossible – Fallout
2018 – La La Land Dunkirk Hidden Figures Beauty and the Beast Miss Sloane 2017 – Sully The Martian Zootopia Star Wars: The Force Awakens The Revenant 2016 – American Sniper Kingsman: The Secret Service Mad Max: Fury Road Spectre Whiplash 2015 – Frozen Interstellar Jersey Boys Fury Godzilla 2014 – Les Misérables 3 Idiots Captain Phillips Django Unchained Gravity 2013 – The Intouchables Argo The Dark Knight Rises The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Skyfall 2012 – The King's Speech Rise of the Planet of the Apes Moneyball The Social Network Black Swan 2011 – Avatar Inception Toy Story 3 Invictus The Hurt Locker 2010 – Gran Torino Slumdog Millionaire Changeling The Wrestler Red Cliff Part II 2009 – The Dark Knight The Bucket List No Country for Old Men Lust, Caution Red Cliff Part I 2008 – Letters from Iwo Jima Dreamgirls Babel Hairspray The Bourne Ultimatum 2007 – Flags of Our Fathers Crash Hotel Rwanda Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest The Da Vinci Code 2006 – Million Dollar Baby Cinderella Man Charlie and the Chocolate Factory The Phantom of the Opera Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith 2005 – The Last Samurai The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Mystic River Seabiscuit Troy 2004 – The Pianist Chicago The Hours The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Yeopgijeogin geunyeo 2003 – Monster's Ball Gangs of New York Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets I Am Sam The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2002 – Billy Elliot Artificial Intelligence: AI Chocolat Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Postmen in the Mountains 2001 – Dancer in the Dark American Beauty Gladiator The Green Mile Swiri 2000 – The Sixth Sense Elizabeth The Matrix Shakespeare in Love La Vita è bella 1999 – L.A. Confidential Armageddon As Good as It Gets Good Will Hunting Saving Private Ryan 1998 – Titanic The English Patient Shine Air Force One Seven Years in Tibet 1997 – Il Postino Independence Day Mission: Impossible Se7en 12 Monkeys 1996 – The Shawshank Redemption Apollo 13 The Bridges of Madison County Forrest Gump Léon 1995 – Schindler's List The Piano Pulp Fiction Speed True Lies 1994 – Jurassic Park Cliffhanger The Fugitive Heaven & Earth Unforgiven 1993 – JFK The Lover Basic Instinct The Bodyguard A League of Their Own 1992 – Dances with Wolves Awakenings La Femme Nikita The Silence of the Lambs Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991 – Field of Dreams Die Hard 2 Ghost Cinema Paradiso Total Recall 1990 – Die Hard Black Rain Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Major League Rain Man 1989 – The Last Emperor Fatal Attraction Full Metal Jacket Moonstruck Wall Street 1988 – Platoon Hannah and Her Sisters Stand By Me Top Gun The Untouchables 1987 – Back to the Future Aliens A Chorus Line The Color Purple Out of Africa 1986 – Amadeus The Cotton Club The Killing Fields A Passage to India Witness 1985 – Once Upon a Time in America Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom The Natural The Right Stuff Terms of Endearment 1984 – An Officer and a Gentleman The Woman Next Door Flashdance Gandhi Sophie's Choice 1983 – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Das Boot Chariots of Fire On Golden Pond Rocky III 1982 – Die Blechtrommel Being There The Elephant Man Ordinary People Les Uns et les Autres 1981 – Kramer vs. Kramer All That Jazz Apocalypse Now Manhattan Tess 1980 – The Deer Hunter The Tree of Wooden Clogs Big Wednesday The Champ The Travelling Players 1979 – Conversation Piece Close Encounters of the Third Kind The Goodbye Girl Star Wars The Turning Point 1978 – Rocky The Fire Within Network Slap Shot Voyage of the Damned
References