South Africa has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1989. The award is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. It was not created until the 1956 Academy Awards, in which a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was created for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since.
As of 2026, South Africa was nominated twice, winning once for Tsotsi (2005).
Submissions The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1956. The International Feature Film Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via secret ballot to determine the five nominees for the award.
Tsotsi (2005), directed by , won the category at the 78th Academy Awards, marking the first and only South African film to do so.
Life, Above All (2010) and The Wound (2017) advanced to the December shortlists, but were not nominated.
All the films submitted are primary in native South African languages. Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by South Africa for review by the academy for the award by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony.
Year(Ceremony) Film title used in nomination Original title Language(s) Director(s) Result 1989(62nd) MapantsulaMapantsula appeared on the official Oscar press release in 1989, but Paljas was listed as South Africa's first-ever submission in 1997. It appears likely that Mapantsula was not screened. http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/chronology/special-chrono/society/film.htm Zulu, Afrikaans, Sesotho, English 1997(70th) Paljas Afrikaans 2004(77th) Yesterday Zulu 2005(78th) Tsotsi Sesotho, Tswana, Afrikaans, English 2008(81st) JerusalemaGangster's Paradise: Jerusalema Sesotho, English, Tsotsitaal Ralph Ziman 2009(82nd) White Wedding Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English 2010(83rd) Life, Above All Northern Sotho 2011(84th) BeautySkoonheid Afrikaans 2012(85th) Little One Zulu 2013(86th) Four Corners Afrikaans 2014(87th) Elelwani Venda Ntshavheni wa Luruli 2015(88th) The Two of UsThina Sobabili: The Two of Us Zulu Ernest Nkosi 2016(89th) Call Me ThiefNoem My Skollie Afrikaans 2017(90th) The WoundInxeba Xhosa 2018(91st) Sew the Winter to My Skin Afrikaans, Xhosa, English 2019(92nd) Knuckle City Xhosa 2020(93rd) Toorbos Afrikaans Rene van Rooyen 2021(94th) Barakat Afrikaans, English 2023(96th) Music Is My Life: Joseph Shabalala and Ladysmith Black Mambazo Zulu, English Mbele Mpumi 2024(97th) Old Righteous Blues Afrikaans Muneera Sallies 2025(98th) The Heart Is a Muscle Afrikaans, English Imran Hamdulay 2026(99th) Variations on a Theme Variasies op 'n Tema Afrikaans Devon Delmar and Jason Jacobs
See also List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best International Feature Film List of Academy Award-winning foreign language films Cinema of South Africa
Notes
References
External links The Official Academy Awards Database The Motion Picture Credits Database IMDb Academy Awards Page