This is a list of submissions to the 80th 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 80th Academy Awards, the submitted motion pictures must have first been released theatrically in their respective countries between 1 October 2006 and 30 September 2007. The deadline for submissions to the Academy was 1 October 2007. 64 countries submitted films, and 63 were found to be eligible by AMPAS and screened for voters. Azerbaijan and Ireland submitted films for the first time. After the 9-film shortlist was announced on 15 January 2008, the five nominees were announced on 22 January 2008.
Austria won the award for the first time with The Counterfeiters by Stefan Ruzowitzky.
Submissions Submitting country Film title used in nomination Original title Language(s) Director(s) Result XXY Spanish The Home Song Stories 意 Cantonese, English, Mandarin The Counterfeiters Die Fälscher German, Russian, English, Hebrew Caucasia Qafqaz Azerbaijani, Russian On the Wings of Dreams স্বপ্নডানায় North Central Bengali Ben X Flemish, Dutch The Andes Don't Believe In God Los Andes no creen en Dios Spanish It's Hard to be Nice Teško je biti fin Bosnian, Japanese The Year My Parents Went On Vacation O Ano em que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias Brazilian Portuguese, Yiddish, Hebrew Warden of the Dead Пазачът на мъртвите Bulgarian Days of Darkness L'âge des ténèbres French Padre nuestro Spanish, English The Knot 云水谣 Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien Satanás Spanish Armin Bosnian, Croatian, German, English The Silly Age La edad de la peseta Spanish I Served the King of England Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále Czech, German, French, English, Italian, Korean, Hungarian The Art of Crying Kunsten at græde i kor South Jutlandic In the Heliopolis Flat في شقة مصر الجديدة Arabic The Class Klass Estonian A Man's Job Miehen työ Finnish Persepolis French, English, Persian, German and Marjane Satrapi The Russian Triangle რუსული სამკუთხედი / Русский треугольник Russian The Edge of Heaven Auf der anderen Seite German, Turkish, English Eduart Έντουαρτ Albanian, German, Greek Exiled 放逐 Cantonese, Mandarin Taxidermia Hungarian, English, Russian Jar City Mýrin Icelandic Eklavya: The Royal Guard एकलव्य Hindi Denias, Singing on the Cloud Denias Senandung Di Atas Awan Indonesian, Papuan Malay M for Mother میم مثل مادر Persian, Armenian Jani Gal ژانی گەل Central Kurdish Kings Irish, English Beaufort בופור Hebrew The Unknown Woman La sconosciuta Italian I Just Didn't Do It それでもボクはやってない Japanese Mongol Монгол Mongolian, Mandarin Caramel سكر بنات Arabic, French Little Secrets Perl oder Pica Luxembourgish Macedonia Shadows Сенки Macedonian Silent Light Stellet Licht Plautdietsch Duska Душка Dutch, Russian Gone with the Woman Tatt av kvinnen Norwegian, English, French Crossing a Shadow Una sombra al frente Spanish Donsol Central Bikol, Filipino, Tagalog Katyń Polish, Russian, German Belle toujours French Lovesickness Maldeamores Spanish Mariem Pérez and Carlitos Ruiz 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile Romanian 12 Russian, Chechen The Trap Клопка Serbian 881 Mandarin, Singaporean Hokkien Return of the Storks Návrat bocianov German, Slovak, Carpathian Romani, Russian Short Circuits Kratki stiki Slovene Secret Sunshine 밀양 Korean Lee Chang-dong The Orphanage El orfanato Spanish You, the Living Du levande Swedish Late Bloomers Die Herbstzeitlosen Swiss German Island Etude 練習曲 Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, English, Lithuanian Chen Hwai-en King of Fire ตำนานสมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหาราช Thai, Mon, Burmese A Man's Fear of God Takva Turkish The Pope's Toilet El baño del Papa Spanish, Uruguayan Portuguese and Enrique Fernandez Postcards from Leningrad Postales de Leningrado Spanish The White Silk Dress Áo lụa Hà Đông Vietnamese, French, Cantonese Luu Huynh
Notes Bolivia submitted The Andes Don't Believe In God by for review by the Academy, but it did not appear on the list of official submissions. India's selection was highly controversial, as Eklavya: The Royal Guard by Vidhu Vinod Chopra was the target of a lawsuit alleging that the selection committee was tied to the production staff of Eklavya; however, India retained the film as its submission. Israel originally submitted The Band's Visit by Eran Kolirin, but the Academy determined that Israel's first submission contained too much English dialogue for the film to meet Academy requirements, and Israel submitted Beaufort by Joseph Cedar as a replacement. Taiwan originally submitted Lust, Caution by Ang Lee, but the Academy determined that Taiwan's initial submission had insufficient Taiwanese participation to be considered a valid entry under Academy rules, and Taiwan submitted Island Etude by Chen Hwai-en as a replacement. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts was subject to criticism for not submitting the Scottish Gaelic-language Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle by Simon David Miller or Welsh-language Calon Gaeth by . The Academy engendered controversy with its selections, notably the omission of France's Persepolis by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi, the winner of the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, and Romania's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days by Cristian Mungiu, which had won the Palme d'Or at the same Cannes Film Festival.
References General
Specific
External links
Official website for the 80th Academy Awards