The Czech Republic has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1994. 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.
Prior to becoming a separate state in 1993, the Czech Republic was part of Czechoslovakia, which submitted twenty-three films for Oscar consideration between 1964 and 1991. Since 1994, the country has been submitting films regularly for the category.
As of 2026, Czech Republic has been nominated three times, winning once for Kolya (1996).
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.
Before the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993, all films chosen by the former had a significant input from actors, directors and crew from the Czech Republic. The country had won the category twice, for Closely Watched Trains (1967) and The Shop on Main Street (1965).
Since 1994, Czech Republic has been nominated three times, winning for Jan Svěrák's Kolya at the 69th Academy Awards. The two other nominated films were: Jan Hřebejk's Divided We Fall nominated at the 73rd Academy Awards, and Ondřej Trojan's Želary nominated at the 76th Academy Awards.
's The Painted Bird (2019), 's Charlatan (2020), and 's Waves (2024), advanced to the December shortlisted semifinalists, but were not nominated.
Most of the films are primarily in Czech language, with the exception of Il Boemo (2022), which is mainly in Italian. Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by the Czech Republic for review by the academy for the award by the year of the submission and the respective Academy Award ceremony.
Year(Ceremony) Film title used in nomination Original title Director Result 1994(67th) Faust Lekce Faust 1995(68th) Thanks for Every New Morning Díky za každé nové ráno 1996(69th) Kolya Kolja 1997(70th) Forgotten Light Zapomenuté světlo 1998(71st) Sekal Has to Die Je třeba zabít Sekala 1999(72nd) The Idiot Returns Návrat idiota 2000(73rd) Divided We Fall Musíme si pomáhat 2001(74th) Dark Blue World Tmavomodrý svět 2002(75th) Wild Bees Divoké včely 2003(76th) 2004(77th) Up and Down Horem pádem 2005:(78th) Something Like Happiness 2006(79th) Lunacy 2007(80th) I Served the King of England Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále 2008(81st) The Karamazovs Karamazovi 2009(82nd) Protector Protektor Marek Najbrt 2010(83rd) Kawasaki's Rose Kawasakiho růže 2011(84th) Alois Nebel Alois Nebel Tomáš Luňák 2012(85th) In the Shadow Ve stínu 2013(86th) The Don Juans Donšajni 2014(87th) Fair Play 2015(88th) Home Care Domácí péče 2016(89th) Lost in Munich Ztraceni v Mnichově 2017(90th) Ice Mother Bába z ledu 2018(91st) Winter Flies Všechno bude Olmo Omerzu 2019(92nd) The Painted Bird Nabarvené ptáče 2020(93rd) Charlatan Šarlatán 2021(94th) Zátopek 2022(95th) Il Boemo 2023(96th) Brothers Bratři Tomáš Mašín 2024(97th) Waves Vlny 2025(98th) I'm Not Everything I Want to Be Ještě nejsem, kým chci být Klára Tasovská 2026(99th) If Pigeons Turned to Gold Kdyby se holubi promenili ve zlato Pepa Lubojacki
Shortlisted films Since 2021, the country has created a preliminary shortlist, usually announced few weeks before the final submission. The following films have been shortlisted: YearFilms2021Bird Atlas · Even Mice Belong in Heaven2022Arvéd · Bethlehem Night · Borders of Love · Buko · The Head of the Tribe · Jan Koller - The Story Of Ordinary Boy · The Last Race · Nightsiren · Ordinary Failures · Princ Mamánek · Shadowplay · Somewhere Over the Chemtrails · Victim2023All About the Little Things · The Ballad of Piargy · The Exhale · Happily Ever After · The Man Who Stood in the Way · Nagano Kids · Restore Point · A Sensitive Person · Snake Gas · Two Words as the Key · We Have Never Been Modern2024Dry Season · The End of the World · Escape to Berlin · The Gardener's Year · Girl America · Hello, Welcome · Her Body · Her Drunken Diary · The Meaning and Mystery of Life · Our Lovely Pig Slaughter · Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light · Waltzing Matilda2025Broken Voices · Caravan2026Chica Checa · Five Plums · Invincibles · Little Thief
See also List of Czechoslovak submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best International Feature Film List of Academy Award-winning foreign language films Cinema of the Czech Republic
Notes
References General
Specific
External links The Official Academy Awards Database The Motion Picture Credits Database IMDb Academy Awards Page