This is a list of submissions to the 89th 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 89th Academy Awards, the submitted motion pictures must have first been released theatrically in their respective countries between 1 October 2015 and 30 September 2016. The deadline for submissions to the Academy was 3 October 2016. 89 countries submitted films, and 85 were found to be eligible by AMPAS and screened for voters. Yemen submitted a film for the first time. After the 9-film shortlist was announced on 15 December 2016, the five nominees were announced on 24 January 2019.
Iran won the award for the second time with The Salesman by Asghar Farhadi, his second win after A Separation (2011). He did not attend the ceremony to accept the award in protest of then new travel policies banning Iranians traveling to the United States.
Submissions Submitting country Film title used in nomination Original title Language(s) Director(s) Result Parting رفتن Persian, Dari Chromium Krom Albanian The Well Le puits Arabic, French Lotfi Bouchouchi The Distinguished Citizen El ciudadano ilustre Spanish Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn Earthquake Երկրաշարժ / Землетрясение Armenian, Russian Sarik Andreasyan Tanna Nivhaal Southwest Tanna, Kwamera Martin Butler and Bentley Dean Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe Vor der Morgenröte German, English, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Spanish, Russian Maria Schrader The Unnamed অজ্ঞাতনামা Bengali Tauquir Ahmed The Ardennes D'Ardennen , French, Dutch Sealed Cargo Carga sellada Spanish Julia Vargas-Weise Death in Sarajevo Smrt u Sarajevu Bosnian, French, English Danis Tanović Little Secret Pequeno Segredo Brazilian Portuguese, English David Schurmann Losers Каръци Bulgarian Before the Fall មុនពេលបែកបាក់ Khmer, English, French Ian White Yahan Ameena Bikti Hai यहां अमीना बिकती है Hindi Kumar Raj It's Only the End of the World Juste la fin du monde French Xavier Dolan Neruda Spanish, French, Dutch, Mapudungun Pablo Larraín Xuanzang 大唐玄奘 Mandarin, Sanskrit Huo Jianqi Alias Maria Alias María Spanish About Us Entonces nosotros Hernán Jiménez On the Other Side S one strane Croatian Zrinko Ogresta The Companion El acompañante Spanish Pavel Giroud Lost in Munich Ztraceni v Mnichově Czech, French, English Petr Zelenka Land of Mine Under sandet Danish, German, English Martin Zandvliet Sugar Fields Flor de azúcar Spanish Such Is Life in the Tropics Sin muertos no hay carnaval Sebastián Cordero Clash اشتباك Arabic Mohamed Diab Mother Ema Estonian Kadri Kõusaar The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki Hymyilevä mies Finnish, English Juho Kuosmanen Elle French Paul Verhoeven House of Others სხვისი სახლი Georgian, Russian Rusudan Glurjidze Toni Erdmann German, English, Romanian, French Maren Ade Chevalier Greek, English Athina Rachel Tsangari Port of Call 踏血尋梅 Cantonese, Mandarin Philip Yung Kills on Wheels Tiszta szívvel Hungarian, Serbian Sparrows Þrestir Icelandic Rúnar Rúnarsson Interrogation விசாரணை Tamil, Telugu Vetrimaaran Letters from Prague Surat dari Praha Indonesian, Czech, English Angga Dwimas Sasongko The Salesman فروشنده Persian Asghar Farhadi El Clásico ئێل کلاسیکۆ Central Kurdish, Arabic, Spanish Sand Storm عاصفة رملية Arabic Elite Zexer Fire at Sea Fuocoammare Italian, Sicilian, French, English Gianfranco Rosi Nagasaki: Memories of My Son 母と暮せば Japanese Yoji Yamada 3000 Nights ٣٠٠٠ ليلة Arabic, Hebrew Mai Masri Amanat Аманат Kazakh, Russian Home Sweet Home Albanian Faton Bajraktari A Father's Will Атанын керээзи Kyrgyz Bakyt Mukul and Dastan Japar Uulu Dawn Ausma Latvian Laila Pakalniņa Very Big Shot فيلم كتير كبير Arabic, French, English Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya Seneca's Day Senekos diena Lithuanian, Russian, Estonian Voices from Chernobyl La supplication French Pol Cruchten Macedonia The Liberation of Skopje Ослободување на Скопје Macedonian, German, Bulgarian Rade and Danilo Šerbedžija Beautiful Pain Redha Malay Desierto Spanish, English Jonás Cuarón The Black Pin Igla ispod praga Montenegrin, Serbian Ivan Marinovic A Mile in My Shoes مسافة ميل بحذائي Arabic Said Khallaf The Black Hen कालो पोथी Nepali Min Bahadur Bham Tonio Dutch Paula van der Oest A Flickering Truth Dari Pietra Brettkelly The King's Choice Kongens nei Norwegian, Danish, German, Swedish Erik Poppe Mah-e-Mir ماہ میر Urdu Anjum Shahzad The Idol يا طير الطاير Arabic Hany Abu-Assad Salsipuedes Spanish Ricardo Aguilar Navarro and Manuel Rodríguez Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes) Videofilia (y otros síndromes virales) Spanish, English Juan Daniel F. Molero Ma' Rosa Filipino, Tagalog Brillante Mendoza Afterimage Powidoki Polish Andrzej Wajda Letters from War Cartas da Guerra Portuguese Ivo M. Ferreira Sieranevada Romanian Cristi Puiu Paradise Рай Russian, German, French, Yiddish Andrei Konchalovsky Barakah Meets Barakah بركة يقابل بركة Arabic Mahmoud Sabbagh Train Driver's Diary Дневник машиновође Serbian Apprentice Malay, English Boo Junfeng Eva Nová Slovak Marko Škop Houston, We Have a Problem! Houston, imamo problem! Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, English Call Me Thief Noem My Skollie Kaaps, Afrikaans Daryne Joshua The Age of Shadows 밀정 Korean, Japanese, Mandarin Kim Jee-woon Julieta Spanish Pedro Almodóvar A Man Called Ove En man som heter Ove Swedish, Persian Hannes Holm My Life as a Zucchini Ma vie de Courgette French Claude Barras Hang in There, Kids! Lokah Laqi / 只要我長大 Atayal, Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien Laha Mebow Karma อาปัติ Thai Kanittha Kwanyu As I Open My Eyes على حلة عيني Arabic, French Leyla Bouzid Cold of Kalandar Kalandar Soğuğu Turkish Ukrainian Sheriffs Українські шерифи Ukrainian, Russian Under the Shadow زیر سایه Persian Babak Anvari Breadcrumbs Migas de pan Spanish From Afar Desde allá Lorenzo Vigas Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass Tôi thấy hoa vàng trên cỏ xanh Vietnamese Victor Vu I Am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced أنا نجوم بنت العاشره ومطلقة Arabic Khadija al-Salami
Notes Afghanistan submitted Parting by , but it was not included on the list of eligible contenders announced by the Academy. Armenia submitted Earthquake by Sarik Andreasyan, but it was disqualified for not meeting the submission requirements. Austria submitted Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe by Maria Schrader, but it was reportedly rejected by the Academy for not being an Austrian film. The film was ultimately included on the list of eligible contenders announced by the Academy. Brazil had three films withdrawn from consideration; Don't Call Me Son by Anna Muylaert, Neon Bull by Gabriel Mascaro, and by . This was in protest of the appointment of Marcos Petrucelli as a member of the committee, due to his pre-established criticism of Aquarius by Kleber Mendonça Filho after the cast and crew of the film protested in Cannes against the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. Although Aquarius was seen as the front-runner, it was not chosen by the committee, generating disapproval and more controversy over the relations between the film and Brazil's new government. Cameroon submitted Yahan Ameena Bikti Hai by Kumar Raj, but it was not included on the list of eligible contenders announced by the Academy. Tunisia's submission was originally reported to be The Flower of Aleppo by Ridha Behi. However, this was later changed to As I Open My Eyes by Leyla Bouzid. Neither film was included on the list of eligible contenders announced by the Academy.
References
External links Official website of the Academy Awards