This is a list of submissions to the 40th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was created in 1956 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honour non-English-speaking films produced outside the United States. The award is handed out annually, and is accepted by the winning film's director, although it is considered an award for the submitting country as a whole. Countries are invited by the Academy to submit their best films for competition according to strict rules, with only one film being accepted from each country.
For the 40th Academy Awards, sixteen films were submitted in the category Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Belgium and Peru submitted films to the competition for the first time. The five nominated films came from France, Japan, Spain, Yugoslavia and the Czechoslovakia.
Czechoslovakia won for the second time with Closely Watched Trains by Jiří Menzel.
Submissions Submitting country Film title used in nomination Original title Language(s) Director(s) Result Le départ French Jerzy Skolimowski Case of the Naves Brothers O Caso dos Irmãos Naves Brazilian Portuguese Luis Sérgio Person Closely Watched Trains Ostře sledované vlaky Czech, German Jiří Menzel Once There Was a War Der var engang en krig Danish Palle Kjærulff-Schmidt Live for Life Vivre pour Vivre French Claude Lelouch Tattoo Tätowierung German Johannes Schaaf Father Apa Hungarian István Szabó The Last Letter आख़िरी खत Hindi Chetan Anand China Is Near La Cina è vicina Italian Marco Bellocchio Portrait of Chieko 智恵子抄 Japanese Noboru Nakamura The Adolescents Los adolescentes Spanish Abel Salazar No Stars in the Jungle En la selva no hay estrellas Armando Robles Godoy Because of a Flower Dahil sa isang bulaklak Tagalog Luis Nepomuceno El Amor Brujo Spanish Francisco Rovira Beleta Here's Your Life Här har du ditt liv Swedish Jan Troell I Even Met Happy Gypsies Skupljaci perja Romani, Serbo-Croatian Aleksandar Petrović
References
Sources Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences