North Macedonia has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1994. The International Feature Film 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.
In 1991, the country attempted unsuccessfully to submit a film, while they were in the process of trying to achieve international recognition as an independent state. Prior to independence, Macedonian filmmakers were active participants in the Yugoslavian film industry, and several films made by Macedonian filmmakers were submitted for Oscar consideration as part of Yugoslavia. The last instance of this was Stole Popov's Happy New Year '49 in 1987.
As of 2026, North Macedonia has been nominated twice, for Before the Rain (1994) and Honeyland (2019).
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.
Milcho Manchevski had four films selected to represent the country, the most for any filmmaker. Macedonian filmmakers Teona Strugar Mitevska and Tamara Kotevska had two films selected each.
Manchevski's Before the Rain (1994) was the country first nomination. Honeyland (2019) was the country second nomination, the film was also nominated for Best Documentary Feature.
Most of the submissions are mainly in Macedonian language, with the exception of Wingless (2009), which was in Czech, and The Happiest Man in the World (2022), which was in Bosnian. Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by North Macedonia 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 1994(67th) Before the Rain Пред дождот Macedonian, Albanian, English 1997(70th) Gypsy Magic Џипси Меџик Macedonian, Romani 1998(71st) Goodbye, 20th Century! Збогум на Дваесетиот Век! Macedonian and Aleksandar Popovski 2004(77th) The Great Water Γолемата Вода Ivo Trajkov 2006(79th) Kontakt Контакт Macedonian, German Sergej Stanojkovski 2007(80th) Shadows Сенки Macedonian 2008(81st) I'm From Titov Veles Јас сум од Титов Велес 2009(82nd) Wingless Ocas ještěrky Czech Ivo Trajkov 2010(83rd) Mothers Мајки Macedonian 2011(84th) Punk's Not Dead Панкот не е мртовMacedonian, Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian Vladimir Blazevski 2012(85th) The Third Half Трето ПолувремеMacedonian 2014(87th) To the Hilt До балчак 2015(88th) Honey Night Медена ноќ Ivo Trajkov 2016(89th) The Liberation of Skopje Ослободување на Скопје Rade Šerbedžija and Danilo Šerbedžija 2018(91st) Secret Ingredient Исцелител Gjorce Stavreski 2019(92nd) Honeyland Медена земја Macedonian, Turkish, Bosnian Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov 2020(93rd) Willow Врба Macedonian Milcho Manchevski 2021(94th) Sisterhood Сестри Dina Duma 2022(95th) The Happiest Man in the World Најсреќниот човек на светот Bosnian 2023(96th) Housekeeping for Beginners Домаќинство за почетници Albanian, Macedonian, Romani Goran Stolevski 2025(98th) The Tale of Silyan СилјанMacedonian Tamara Kotevska 2026(99th)17 Kosara Mitić
See also List of Yugoslav submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best International Feature Film List of Academy Award-winning foreign language films
Notes
References
External links The Official Academy Awards Database The Motion Picture Credits Database IMDb Academy Awards Page