The Top Five International Films (known as Top Five Foreign Language Films prior to 2022) is one of the awards presented annually by the National Board of Review. This category is one of the few awards that is not presented individually but instead as a list of usually five films.
History The category was first presented in 1929 and its one of two categories for foreign language films alongside the Best Foreign Language Film award.
Initially it was awarded as just as Top Foreign Films therefore including foreign films in English but in 1990 it was modified to only reward films in a foreign language changing the name from Top Foreign Films to Top Foreign Language Films before being changed again to Top International Films in 2022. From 1940 to 1949 the list was not presented at all.
Winners 1920s Year Film Director Country1929 Arsenal Alexander Dovzhenko Soviet Union October: Ten Days That Shook the World Grigori Aleksandrov and Sergei Eisenstein The Passion of Joan of Arc Carl Theodor Dreyer France Piccadilly E. A. Dupont United Kingdom Homecoming Joe May Germany
1930s Year Film Director Country1930 High Treason Maurice Elvey United Kingdom Two Hearts in Waltz Time Géza von Bolváry Germany Old and New Grigori Aleksandrov and Sergei Eisenstein Soviet Union Soil Alexander Dovzhenko Storm Over Asia Vsevolod Pudovkin 1931 The Threepenny Opera G. W. Pabst Germany The Song of Life Alexis Granowsky Under the Roofs of Paris René Clair France Westfront 1918 Georg Wilhelm Pabst Germany1932 À Nous la Liberté René Clair France Der Andere Robert Wiene Germany Der Raub der Mona Lisa Géza von Bolváry Zwei Menschen Erich Waschneck The Battle of Gallipolli Anthony Asquith and Geoffrey Barkas United Kingdom Reserved for Ladies Alexander Korda Kameradschaft G. W. Pabst Germany, France Golden Mountains Sergei Yutkevich Soviet Union Road to Life Nikolai Ekk Mädchen in Uniform Leontine Sagan Germany1933 Ivan Alexander Dovzhenko Soviet Union Hertha's Erwachen Gerhard Lamprecht Germany M Fritz Lang Morgenrot Vernon Sewell and Gustav Ucicky Germany Niemandsland Victor Trivas The Private Life of Henry VIII Alexander Korda United Kingdom Rome Express Walter Forde Poil de Carotte Julien Duvivier France Quatorze Juillet René Clair The Blood of a Poet Jean Cocteau 1934 Man of Aran Robert J. Flaherty Ireland The Blue Light Leni Riefenstahl Germany Catherine the Great Paul Czinner United Kingdom The Constant Nymph Basil Dean Madame Bovary Jean Renoir France1935 Chapaev Georgi Vasilyev and Sergei Vasilyev Soviet Union The New Gulliver Aleksandr Ptushko The Youth of Maxim Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg Crime and Punishment Pierre Chenal France Le Dernier Milliardaire René Clair Maria Chapdelaine Julien Duvivier La Maternelle Jean Benoît-Lévy and Marie Epstein The Man Who Knew Too Much Alfred Hitchcock United Kingdom Thunder in the East Nicolas Farkas Peasants Konstantin Kostich Czechoslovakia, Romania1936 The New Earth Arnold Fanck and Mansaku Itami Japan, Germany We are from Kronstadt Efim Dzigan Soviet Union Son of Mongolia Ilya Trauberg The Yellow Cruise Léon Poirier and André Sauvage France Carnival in Flanders Jacques Feyder Les Misérables Raymond Bernard The Ghost Goes West René Clair United Kingdom Rembrandt Alexander Korda Nine Days a Queen Robert Stevenson The Secret Agent Alfred Hitchcock1937 Baltic Deputy Iosif Kheifits and Aleksandr Zarkhi Soviet Union Elephant Boy Robert J. Flaherty and Zoltan Korda United Kingdom The Eternal Mask Werner Hochbaum Austria, Switzerland Golgotha Julien Duvivier France The Lower Depths Jean Renoir Mayerling Anatole Litvak Jánošík Martin Frič Czechoslovakia The Spanish Earth Joris Ivens United States The Wedding of Palo Friedrich Dalsheim Denmark1938 Ballerina Jean Benoit-Lévy and Marie Epstein France Generals Without Buttons Yves Robert Grand Illusion Jean Renoir Un Carnet de Bal Julien Duvivier Peter the First Vladimir Petrov Soviet Union Professor Mamlock Herbert Rappaport and Adolf Minkin 1939 The End of the Day Julien Duvivier France Harvest Marcel Pagnol Port of Shadows Marcel Carné Alexander Nevsky Sergei Eisenstein and Dmitri Vasilyev Soviet Union Robert Koch Hans Steinhoff Germany
1950s Year Film Director Country1950 Kind Hearts and Coronets Robert Hamer United Kingdom Tight Little Island Alexander Mackendrick The Third Man Carol Reed Paris 1900 Nicole Védrès France The Titan: Story of Michelangelo Richard Lyford Germany1951 The Browning Version Anthony Asquith United Kingdom Kon-Tiki Thor Heyerdahl Norway, Sweden Miracle in Milan Vittorio De Sica Italy Rashomon Akira Kurosawa Japan The River Jean Renoir United States1952 Beauty and the Devil René Clair France, Italy Breaking the Sound Barrier David Lean United Kingdom Ivory Hunter Harry Watt The Man in the White Suit Alexander Mackendrick Forbidden Games René Clément France1953 Strange Deception Curzio Malaparte Italy The Conquest of Everest George Lowe United Kingdom Moulin Rouge John Hutson A Queen is Crowned Michael Waldman The Little World of Don Camillo Julien Duvivier Italy, France1954 The Detective Robert Hamer United Kingdom Genevieve Henry Cornelius The Heart of the Matter George More O'Ferrall The Little Kidnappers Philip Leacock Beauties of the Night René Clair France, Italy Diary of a Country Priest Robert Bresson France Monsieur Hulot's Holiday Jacques Tati Bread, Love and Dreams Luigi Comencini Italy Gate of Hell Teinosuke Kinugasa Japan Romeo and Juliet Renato Castellani United Kingdom, Italy1955 Diabolique Henri-Georges Clouzot France The Divided Heart Charles Crichton United Kingdom The Prisoner Peter Glenville The Great Adventure Arne Sucksdorff Sweden The End of the Affair Edward Dmytryk United Kingdom, United States1956 Rififi Jules Dassin France The Silent World Jacques Cousteau and Louis Malle War and Peace King Vidor United States, Italy Richard III Laurence Olivier United Kingdom La Strada Federico Fellini Italy1957 Gervaise René Clément France A Man Escaped Robert Bresson The Red Balloon Albert Lamorisse Ordet Carl Theodor Dreyer Denmark Torero! Carlos Velo Mexico1958 The Horse's Mouth Ronald Neame United Kingdom A Night to Remember Roy Ward Baker Mon Oncle Jacques Tati France Rouge et Noir Claude Autant-Lara Pather Panchali Satyajit Ray India1959 Wild Strawberries Ingmar Bergman Sweden The Roof Vittorio De Sica Italy Aparajito Satyajit Ray India Look Back in Anger Tony Richardson United Kingdom Room at the Top Jack Clayton
1960s Year Film Director Country1960 The Angry Silence Guy Green United Kingdom I'm All Right Jack John Boulting General Della Rovere Roberto Rossellini Italy Hiroshima Mon Amour Alain Resnais France The World of Apu Satyajit Ray India1961 The Bridge Bernhard Wicki West Germany La Dolce Vita Federico Fellini Italy Two Women Vittorio De Sica Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Karel Reisz United Kingdom A Summer to Remember Igor Talankin and Georgiy Daneliya Soviet Union1962 Barabbas Richard Fleischer Italy Divorce Italian Style Pietro Germi Through a Glass Darkly Ingmar Bergman Sweden The Naked Island Kaneto Shindo Japan Sundays and Cybele Serge Bourguignon France1963 Winter Light Ingmar Bergman Sweden Any Number Can Win Henri Verneuil France 8½ Federico Fellini Italy The Four Days of Naples Nanni Loy The Leopard Luchino Visconti 1964 Anatomy of a Marriage André Cayatte France World Without Sun Jacques-Yves Cousteau The Organizer Mario Monicelli Italy Seduced and Abandoned Pietro Germi Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Vittorio De Sica 1965 La Bohème Franco Zeffirelli West Germany Gertrud Carl Theodor Dreyer Denmark Juliet of the Spirits Federico Fellini Italy La Tía Tula Miguel Picazo Spain The Overcoat Aleksey Batalov Soviet Union1966 The Gospel According to St. Matthew Pier Paolo Pasolini Italy A Man and a Woman Claude Lelouch France The Shameless Old Lady René Allio The Sleeping Car Murders Costa-Gavras Hamlet Grigori Kozintsev and Iosif Shapiro Soviet Union1967 Africa Addio Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi Italy Elvira Madigan Bo Widerberg Sweden Persona Ingmar Bergman The Great British Train Robbery John Olden and Claus Peter Witt West Germany The Hunt Carlos Saura Spain1968 Hagbard and Signe Gabriel Axel Denmark, Sweden, Iceland The Bride Wore Black François Truffaut France The Two of Us Claude Berri Hunger Henning Carlsen Denmark, Norway, Sweden War and Peace Sergei Bondarchuk Soviet Union1969 Ådalen 31 Bo Widerberg Sweden Shame Ingmar Bergman The Damned Luchino Visconti Italy La Femme Infidèle Claude Chabrol France Stolen Kisses François Truffaut
1970s Year Film Director Country1970 The Confession Costa-Gavras France, Italy This Man Must Die Claude Chabrol The Passion of Anna Ingmar Bergman Sweden My Night at Maud's Éric Rohmer France The Wild Child François Truffaut 1971 The Conformist Bernardo Bertolucci Italy, France, West Germany The Clowns Federico Fellini Italy The Garden of the Finzi-Continis Vittorio De Sica Bed and Board François Truffaut France, Italy Claire's Knee Éric Rohmer France1972 The Emigrants Jan Troell Sweden Chloe in the Afternoon Éric Rohmer France The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie Luis Buñuel The Sorrow and the Pity Marcel Ophuls Uncle Vanya Andrey Konchalovskiy Soviet Union1973 Alfredo, Alfredo Pietro Germi Italy Cries and Whispers Ingmar Bergman Sweden The New Land Jan Troell Day for Night François Truffaut France The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe Yves Robert Trafic Jacques Tati Italy, France1974 The Pedestrian Maximilian Schell Germany Amarcord Federico Fellini Italy Lacombe, Lucien Louis Malle France The Phantom of Liberty Luis Buñuel Italy, France Scenes from a Marriage Ingmar Bergman Sweden1975 Swept Away Lina Wertmüller Italy A Brief Vacation Vittorio De Sica The Story of Adele H. François Truffaut France Special Section Costa-Gavras Stavisky Alain Resnais 1976 Face to Face Ingmar Bergman Sweden The Clockmaker Bertrand Tavernier France Cousin Cousine Jean-Charles Tacchella Small Change François Truffaut The Marquise of O Éric Rohmer West Germany1977 The Man Who Loved Women François Truffaut France The American Friend Wim Wenders West Germany Cría Cuervos Carlos Saura Spain A Special Day Ettore Scola Italy That Obscure Object of Desire Luis Buñuel France, Spain1978 Autumn Sonata Ingmar Bergman Sweden Dear Detective Philippe de Broca France Madame Rosa Moshé Mizrahi Bread and Chocolate Franco Brusati Italy A Slave of Love Nikita Mikhalkov Soviet Union1979 La Cage aux Folles Édouard Molinaro France, Italy The Marriage of Maria Braun Rainer Werner Fassbinder West Germany Nosferatu the Vampyre Werner Herzog Peppermint Soda Diane Kurys France The Tree of Wooden Clogs Ermanno Olmi Italy
1980s