This is a list of submissions to the 95th Academy Awards for the Best International Feature 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 International Feature 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 International Feature Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. The category was previously called the Best Foreign Language Film, but this was changed in April 2019 to Best International Feature Film, after the Academy deemed the word "Foreign" to be outdated.
For the 95th Academy Awards, the submitted motion pictures must have first been released theatrically in their respective countries between 1 January 2022 and 30 November 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy was 3 October 2022. 93 countries submitted films and were found to be eligible by AMPAS and screened for voters. Uganda submitted a film for the first time, while Tanzania made a submission for the first time since 2001. After the 15-film shortlist was announced on 21 December 2022, the five nominees were announced on 24 January 2023.
Germany won the award for the fourth time with All Quiet on the Western Front by Edward Berger, which also won Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design, and was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Visual Effects.
Submissions Submitting country Film title used in nomination Original title Language(s) Director(s) Result A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On Albanian, Albanian Sign LanguageGentian Koçi French, ArabicRachid Bouchareb Argentina, 1985 SpanishSantiago Mitre Aurora's Sunrise Western Armenian, English, Turkish, Northern Kurdish, GermanInna Sahakyan You Won't Be Alone Macedonian, Aromanian Goran Stolevski Corsage German, French, English, HungarianMarie Kreutzer Azerbaijani, Russian Hawa BengaliMejbaur Rahman Sumon Close French, Dutch, FlemishLukas Dhont Utama South Bolivian Quechua, Spanish BosnianAida Begić Mars One Brazilian Portuguese Gabriel Martins In the Heart of the Machine Bulgarian Return to Seoul French, Korean, EnglishDavy Chou The Planter's Plantation Cameroonian Pidgin English, Kom, Kenyang, Mankon, Mmen, Kpwe, French Eystein Young Dingha Eternal Spring Mandarin, EnglishJason Loftus Blanquita Spanish Nice View Mandarin Wen Muye The Kings of the World Spanish Laura Mora Domingo and the Mist Safe Place CroatianJuraj Lerotić Il Boemo Italian, German, Czech, FrenchPetr Václav Holy Spider عنکبوت مقدس PersianAli Abbasi Bantú Mama French, Spanish, WolofIvan Herrera SpanishJavier Andrade Estonian, RussianOve Musting Girl Picture Finnish, FrenchAlli Haapasalo Saint Omer French, Wolof, ItalianAlice Diop GeorgianDavit Pirtskhalava All Quiet on the Western Front German, French, EnglishEdward Berger Magnetic Fields Greek The Silence of the Mole Spanish Where the Wind Blows Cantonese, Mandarin, English, Shanghainese, Teochew Min, JapanesePhilip Yung Hungarian, German, Russian Beautiful Beings IcelandicGuðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson Last Film Show GujaratiPan Nalin Missing Home Toba Batak, Indonesian World War III جنگ جهانی سوم Persian, Iranian Sign Language, GermanHouman Seyyedi ئەزموونCentral KurdishShawkat Amin Korki The Quiet Girl Irish, English Colm Bairéad Cinema Sabaya Hebrew, Arabic, English Nostalgia Italian, Neapolitan, ArabicMario Martone Plan 75 Japanese, Tagalog Chie Hayakawa Farha فرحة Arabic, Hebrew, EnglishDarin J. Sallam Russian, KazakhEmir Baigazin TeraStorm Swahili, EnglishAndrew Kaggia AlbanianNorika Sefa KyrgyzTaalaibek Kulmendeev Latvian, Lithuanian, RussianViestur Kairish Memory Box دفاتر مايا French, Arabic, EnglishJoana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige Pilgrims LithuanianLaurynas Bareiša Icarus French Carmen Maltese, EnglishValerie Buhagiar Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths Spanish, EnglishAlejandro González Iñárritu Carbon Romanian, RussianIon Borș Mongolian Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam Serbian, Montenegrin, English, SwedishDušan Kasalica The Blue Caftan أزرق القفطان ArabicMaryam Touzani Butterfly on the Windowpane Nepali Sujit Bidari Narcosis DutchMartijn de Jong Muru Māori, EnglishTearepa Kahi The Happiest Man in the World BosnianTeona Strugar Mitevska War Sailor Norwegian, German, English Gunnar Vikene Joyland جوائے لینڈ Urdu, PunjabiSaim Sadiq Mediterranean Fever حمى البحر المتوسط Arabic, Hebrew, EnglishMaha Haj Birthday Boy SpanishArturo Montenegro Eami AyoreoPaz Encina Moon Heart No dialogue On the Job: The Missing 8 Filipino, EnglishErik Matti EO IO Polish, Italian, English, FrenchJerzy Skolimowski Portuguese, French Imaculat Romanian and أغنية الغراب Arabic Xalé Wolof, FrenchMoussa Sene Absa Serbian, English, Italian Ajoomma Mandarin, Korean, EnglishHe Shuming Victim Czech, Ukrainian, RussianMichal Blaško Slovene, GermanMatevž Luzar Decision to Leave Korean, MandarinPark Chan-wook Alcarràs Carla Simón Cairo Conspiracy Boy from Heaven / صبي من الجنة ArabicTarik Saleh A Piece of Sky Swiss German, French, EnglishMichael Koch Goddamned Asura MandarinLou Yi-an Tug of War Swahili, EnglishAmil Shivji One for the Road Thai, EnglishNattawut Poonpiriya Under the Fig Trees تحت الشجرة ArabicErige Sehiri Kerr TurkishTayfun Pirselimoğlu Tembele Swahili, Nkore, LugandaMorris Mugisha Klondike Ukrainian, Russian, Chechen, DutchMaryna Er Gorbach Winners برندهها PersianHassan Nazer The Employer and the Employee Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French The Box SpanishLorenzo Vigas 578 Magnum Vietnamese
Notes Bulgaria originally submitted Mother by Zornitsa Sophia in September 2022. After asking the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to confirm the film's eligibility, it was rejected for having more than 50% of its dialogue in English. Later the same month, they submitted a second film, In the Heart of the Machine by . Egypt's Oscar Selection Committee announced a shortlist of five films: The Crime by Sherif Arafa, by , by Marwan Hamed, 2 Talaat Harb by Magdy Ahmed Ali and Villa 19-B by Ahmad Abdalla, although Ahmed Ali withdrew his film prior to the vote. On 29 September 2022, it was announced that a majority of the committee voted not to send any film and that Egypt would be absent for the first time since 2015; Kira & El Gin obtained the highest number of votes of those who voted for sending a film, however, it was lower than those who selected against sending any submission. Mohamed Hefzy explained, "The committee that made the decision included more than 30 filmmakers, and it is clear that the films presented to them did not live up to their expectations to be nominated for the Oscars." Malta submitted Carmen by Valerie Buhagiar, but it was not included on any of the assignment lists sent to Academy members who volunteered to participate in that first round of voting. Nigeria's Oscar Selection Committee (NOSC) announced they received three Yoruba-language submissions: Aníkúlápó by Kunle Afolayan, Elesin Oba, The King's Horseman by Biyi Bandele and King of Thieves by Tope Adebayo and Adebayo Tijani. They announced they would not enter because a majority of the committee voted that "no film is eligible"; eight out of the fifteen members considered all the three films as “non-eligible” for submission for Oscar considerations, meanwhile, five voted in favour of Elesin Oba: The King’s Horseman and one voted for each of the remaining two options. Chairperson Chineze Anyaene-Abonyi urged Nigerian filmmakers to become better acquainted with previous Oscar-nominated films in the category "to achieve the needed international recognition and put our films in its acclaimed level of creative discourse." The decision to not select a film sparked criticism and complaints about NOSC processes, leading the Academy's International Feature Film Executive Committee to grant the NOSC an extension until 21 October 2022 to revote and submit a film. The majority of the committee again chose not to send a film, and several committee members resigned in protest. Russia's Oscar Committee, headed by Pavel Chukhray, confirmed its intention to submit a film on 23 September 2022. However, on 26 September, the Russian Film Academy announced they would not enter. On 27 September, Chukhray resigned in protest and said he was not consulted about the decision. Nikita Mikhalkov, alluding to the United States' reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, had previously said, "The way I see it, choosing a film that will represent Russia in a country that, in fact, now denies the existence of Russia, is simply pointless." Zambia formed an approved Oscar Selection Committee for the first time. Zambia's Oscar Committee invited filmmakers to submit their films for consideration by 16 September 2022. Their submission was scheduled to be announced on 26 September. This would have been the country's first time competing for the award. The Oscar Selection Committees for Ghana, Malaysia and South Africa invited filmmakers to make submissions, but did not end up sending films. South Africa was absent from the competition for the first time since 2007.
References
External links Official list of films eligible for consideration in the International Feature Film Category, 95th Academy Awards