As the Oct. 2 deadline for submitting films to the Oscars Best International Feature Film category nears, more than 50 countries have announced their entries.
Any country with a selection committee that has been approved by the Academy is allowed to submit a single film for consideration in the category. Volunteers from all branches of the Academy will cast ballots in an initial round of voting that narrows the field to a 15-film shortlist, which will be announced on Dec. 17. A second round of voting, which is restricted to members who watch all of the shortlisted films, will select the final five nominees.
Here is the complete list of submissions that have been announced so far. Inclusion on this list does not guarantee that a film will qualify, because the Academy still needs to vet each film to make sure it meets eligibility requirements ranging from the amount of non-English dialogue to the creative control exercised by the country of origin.
Additional films and countries will be added to the list as their entries are revealed.
Links to trailers are included when available.
Albania: “Waterdrop,” Robert Budina
The city manager in a small town in Albania is shaken when her teenage son is arrested and accused of raping a classmate, but her attempt to put the blame on the mayor’s son forces her to acknowledge her own complicity. Director Robert Budina previously represented Albania in the Oscar race with “Agon” in 2013.
Trailer (no English subtitles)
Algeria: “Algiers,” Chakib Taleb-Bendiab
Writer-director Taleb-Bendiab, best known for the 2018 short film “Black Spirits,” has set his first feature in the 1990s during the Algerian Civil War. The film deals with a young girl whose kidnapping is being investigated by a police inspector and a psychiatrist. Algeria won the Oscar for its first-ever submission, 1969‘s “Z,” and has been nominated four times since then, most recently in 2010.
Armenia: “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev,” Edgar Baghdasaryan
One year after Armenia made the Oscar shortlist for the first time with “Amerikatsi,” a comedic film set in the Soviet era, the country has submitted another film that mixes politics and laughs. “Yasha and Leonid Brezhnev” is an absurdist comedy in which the spirits of Brezhnev and other communist leaders appear to an aging factory worker who feels lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union and disappointed in his meager pension.
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Austria: “The Devil’s Bath,” Veronika Franz & Several Fiala
Horror directors Franz and Fiala (“The Lodge,” “Goodnight Mommy”) have based their film on the true story of women in 18th century Austria who, in lieu of killing themselves and facing eternal damnation, would commit murder and be put to death after repenting and going to confession. The film had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival and is being distributed by Shudder.
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Belgium: “Julie Keeps Quiet,” Leonardo Van Dijl
The feature directorial debut for Leonardo Van Dijl focuses on a star tennis player who opts not to speak up when her coach at a top tennis academy is accused of misconduct and suspended. The film premiered in the independent Critics Week section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival and won the Gan Foundation and SACD Awards.
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Bolivia: “Own Hand,” Rodrigo “Gory” Patino
Based on “Tribes of the Inquisition,” a 2013 investigation by journalist Roberto Navia into the lynching of six suspected thieves in a small Bolivian town, “Own Hand” tells a story of vigilante justice from the perspective of a prosecutor, a father and one of the accused. Bolivia has been submitting films since 1995 but has yet to land a nomination.
Trailer (no subtitles)
Bulgaria: “Triumph,” Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov
Five years ago, directors Grozeva and Valchanov represented the country in the Oscar race with “The Father,” a drama that included then-unknown Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova in a small role. Bakalova subsequently landed an Oscar nomination for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” and she’s back in “Triumph” with a large part and a job as one of the film’s producers. The blackly humorous film is based on the true story of how a psychic convinced the Bulgarian military to spend two years digging tunnels underneath a field in search of a spaceship that she said had been left there by aliens.
Video interview with Petar Valchanov, Maria Bakalova and Julian Kostov
Cambodia: “Meeting With Pol Pot,” Rithy Panh
Loosely based on reporting from inside Cambodia by American journalist Elizabeth Becker, “Meeting With Pol Pot” stars Irene Jacob stars as a journalist who is granted rare access to Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. Director Rithy Panh has been exploring this territory in his films for years, and his 2013 documentary “The Missing Picture” remains the only Cambodian film ever nominated for the international Oscar. That film used clay figures to tell its story, a technique that also pops up at times in his new work.
Trailer (French subtitles)
Canada: “Universal Language,” Matthew Rankin
Taking place in a dreamscape that is part Winnipeg, part Tehran, Matthew Rankin’s playful film follows a pair of kids who find money frozen in an icy path and must traverse the city looking for a way to get it out. But there’s a lot more than that to the deadpan and impeccably designed film, which TheWrap said “finds moments of awe and beauty in the smallest of places” in its Cannes review.
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Chile: “In Her Place,” Maite Alberdi
Chilean director Maite Alberdi is best known for documentaries like “The Mole Agent” and “The Eternal Memory,” both of which were nominated for Oscars in the doc-feature category. “In Her Place” is a narrative film that’s based on the true story of a writer, Maria Carolina Geel, who is put on trial for killing her lover in Chile in 1955.
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Colombia: “La Suprema,” Felipe Holguin Caro
The debut feature from Felipe Holguin Caro is set in a small town in the Caribbean that doesn’t yet have electricity. When a teenager in that town learns that her uncle, a boxer, will be fighting for the world championship, she decides that she too wants to be a fighter – while the town rallies to bring electricity and television to the town square, and to literally put the town back on the map.
Trailer (no English subtitles)
Costa Rica: “Memories of a Burning Body,” Antonella Sudasassi
Three women over 60 talk about their upbringing in a society where female sexuality was never discussed, with their voiceovers illustrated by two actresses playing an archetypal woman at different ages. This is Sudasassi’s second feature; her first, 2019’s “The Awakening of the Ants,” also represented Costa Rica in the Oscar race.
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Croatia: “Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day,” Ivona Juka
A movie about moviemaking, “Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day” is set in the 1950s in the former Yugoslavia and deals with filmmakers of that era who used their work to argue for a fairer society. The film is the second consecutive Croatian submission to be directed by a woman, following last year’s “Traces.”
Czech Republic: “Waves,” Jiri Madi
The winner of the audience award at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, “Waves” tells the story of journalists who were working for Czechoslovak radio in the late 1960s, and who had to deal with government interference during the Prague Spring of 1968 and the subsequent Warsaw Pact invasion of the country. Writer-director incorporated archival material from the era into his newly-shot footage.
Ecuador: “Behind the Mist,” Sebastian Cordero
This 3D documentary finds director Sebastian Cordero attempting to climb Mount Everest with Ivan Vallejo, who in 1999 became the first Ecuadorian to ever reach that summit. Cordero has directed three of the 12 movies Ecuador has submitted to the Oscars, more than any other director.
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Egypt: “Flight 404,” Hani Khalifa
Mona Zaki stars in this suspenseful drama as a woman who must suddenly raise a large sum of money before making a pilgrimage to Mecca. The financial emergency forces her to get in touch with people from a difficult past. The film also includes more than a dozen new songs from composer Suad Bushnaq.
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Estonia: “8 Views of Lake Biwa,” Marko Raat
The central characters in the new film by veteran Estonian director, documentarian and video artist Marko Raat are two teenage girls who live in a remote fishing village. The lyrical film uses Japanese storytelling techniques to explore the aftereffects of a communal tragedy.
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Finland: “Family Time,” Tia Kouvo
“Family Time” is based on Tia Kouvo’s 2018 short film “Mummola,” and is her feature directorial debut. The film, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2023, deals with a family at its annual Christmas gathering.
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Georgia: “The Antique,” Rusudan Glurjidze
Even before its premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, controversy surrounded this drama that deals with the deportation of several thousand Georgians from Russia in 2006. The film’s screenwriter remains anonymous to protect themselves, while the Russian Ministry of Culture demanded that more than a dozen scenes be cut and attempted to seize footage at customs. The Venice premiere was also delayed by several days by a copyright dispute.
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Germany: “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Mohammad Rasoulof
Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has repeatedly been arrested for “propaganda against the regime” in his home country, and earlier this year he was sentenced to flogging and to eight years in prison after secretly filming this movie about a judge in Iran’s Revolutionary Court who finds that he is expected to rubber-stamp executions without waiting for investigations to take place. He left Iran, escaped to Germany and won a special award in Cannes for this film, which includes news footage of political protests that had been suppressed by the government. This is the first Persian-language submission by Germany, which in the past 22 years has won three times and been nominated 10 times.
Short clip (no dialogue)
Trailer with French subtitles
Greece: “Murderess,” Eva Nathena
Greece’s selection process this year was chaotic after the Greek Culture Ministry either replaced the previous selection committee or came up with a list of potential new members that was then prematurely released. (Accounts differ depending on who’s telling the story.) Citing ministry interference, some committee members resigned and the producers of all but one of the 20-plus films that had been submitted withdrew their films from consideration in protest. “Murderess,” which is set in 19th-century Greece at a time when women had no agency, was the one remaining contender and became the default selection.
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Hungary: “Semmelweis,” Lajos Koltai
Lajos Koltai has made more than 50 films as a cinematographer, receiving an Oscar nominatioin for “Malena” in 2000, but he’s only made three as a director – including one, 2005’s “Fateless,” that also represented Hungary in the Oscar race. “Semmelweis” is a period drama set in the mid 19th century and based on the life of a doctor who pioneered cleaner techniques to stop an epidemic in a maternity clinic in Vienna.
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Iceland: “Touch,” Baltasar Kormakur
Baltasar Kormakur is best known for high-octane films like “The Deep,” “Contraband,” “2 Guns” and “Everest,” but this one is a romance about an elderly man in search of the woman he loved 50 years earlier. The film jumps from the present day to flashbacks to London in 1969 and Japan in 1980. The film received a limited theatrical release in the U.S. in July. This is the fifth film from Kormakur to be Iceland’s Oscar submission, with “The Deep” making the shortlist in 2012.
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Indonesia: “Women From Rote Island,” Jeremias Nyangoen
Writer-director Jeremias Nyangoen made his feature directorial debut with “Women From Rote Island,” a drama in which an undocumented migrant worker faces sexual violence after returning to her hometown for the funeral of her father. Nyangoen cast local actors from southern Indonesia to preserve the local flavor of the film.
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Iraq: “Baghdad Messi,” Sahim Omar Kalifa
Sahim Omar Kalifa’s film stars Ahmed Mohammed Abdullah as a young Iraqi boy who loses his leg in a suicide bombing but continues to dream of become a soccer player like his idol, Lionel Messi. The film is based on Kalifa’s 2014 short of the same name, which was shortlisted in the Oscars’ live-action short category.
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Ireland: “Kneecap,” Rich Peppiatt
The Sundance film, which is in a mixture of English and Irish, tells the somewhat fictionalized story of the Irish duo Kneecap, which is made up of two drug dealers who rap in Irish. The cast includes Michael Fassbender. Sony Pictures Classics has U.S. distribution.
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Israel: “Come Closer,” Tom Nesher
“Come Closer” became the Israeli submission by virtue of winning the Best Picture prize at the Ophir Awards, that country’s version of the Oscars. It also won for directing and editing and for lead actress Lia Elalouf, who plays a young woman who becomes obsessed with the girlfriend of her late brother. The film was inspired by the unexpected death of the brother of director Tom Nesher (who is the daughter of veteran Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher).
Japan: “Cloud,” Kurosawa Kiyoshi
The central character in “Cloud” is a young man who makes a lucrative living buying and reselling trendy goods (and occasional counterfeits) on the internet – but who also learns that his often underhanded techniques have given him a long list of online enemies. The film is part character study and part creepy thriller before it arrives at a very long, very violent final act.
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Kenya: “Nawi,” Vallentine Chelluget, Apuu Mourine, Kevin Schmutzler and Toby Schmutzler
Two Keynan directors have joined with the German-born directing team of Kevin and Toby Schmutzler for this drama about a young girl in rural northwestern Kenya who enters a nationwide writing contest. The film is Kenya’s ninth submission in the Oscars international category, with none of the previous eight making it to the shortlist.
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Kyrgyzstan: “Heaven Is Beneath Mother’s Feet,” Rusian Akun
Like this year’s Egyptian entry, Kyrgyzstan’s submission deals with a woman undertaking the Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca. In this case, the pilgrimage is led by the woman’s 35-year-old, intellectually disabled son, who believes his mother must complete the ritual if she is to join him in heaven after they die.
Trailer (no English subtitles)
Latvia: “Flow,” Gints Zilbalodis
Zilbalodis’s animated film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and was acquired by Sideshow and Janus Films at that festival. The movie takes place in the aftermath of an enormous flood, which forces a cat to team up with four other animals in search of a safe place to live. “Flow” won four awards at the Annecy festival in June, including the Audience Award and the Jury Award.
Trailer (no dialogue)
Lithuania: “Drowning Dry,” Laurynas Bareisa
A tragedy takes place during a weekend family getaway in Laurynas Bareisa’s drama, which premiered at this year’s Locarno Film Festival and won awards for director Bareisa and for the film’s ensemble cast. This is the second Lithuanian submission in the last three years to be directed by Laurynas Bareisa, with the first being the crime drama “Pilgrims” in 2002.
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Morocco: “Everybody Loves Touda,” Nabil Ayouch
Writer-director Nabil Ayouch collaborated with his wife, Maryam Touzani, for this story about a young Moroccan woman (Nisrin Erradi) who dreams of becoming a successful folk singer in Casablanca. The film received strong reviews when it premiered in the Premiere section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Of the 20 films submitted by Morocco since 1977, Ayouch has directed six of them and Touzani has directed two, with the couple being responsible for five of the last eight entries.
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Nepal: “Shambhala,” Min Bahadur Bham
A young woman’s journey through the Himalayas in search of one of her three husbands is the setting for “Shambhala,” which became the first Nepalese film to compete at a major film festival when it premiered in Berlin this year. Filming took place in the Upper Dolpo region of the Himalyas, one of the highest areas for human settlement at an elevation of more than 13,000 feet above sea level.
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Netherlands: “Memory Lane,” Jelle de Jonge
An elderly couple make a road trip across Europe in this comedy-drama from prolific Dutch TV director Jelle de Jonge. Leny Breederveld and Martin van Waardenberg play the couple whose 50-year relationship is tested on the car trip. The Netherlands was nominated seven times and won three Oscars between 1959 and 2003, but it hasn’t been nominated for the last 20 years.
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Palestine: “From Ground Zero,” Aws Al-Banna, Ahmed Al-Danf, Basil Al-Maqousi, Mustafa Al-Nabih, Muhammad Alshareef, Ala Ayob, Bashar Al Balbisi, Alaa Damo, Awad Hana, Ahmad Hassunah, Mustafa Kallab, Satoum Kareem, Mahdi Karera, Rabab Khamees, Khamees Masharawi, Wissam Moussa, Tamer Najm, Abu Hasna Nidaa, Damo Nidal, Mahmoud Reema, Etimad Weshah and Islam Al Zrieai
A blend of documentary, live-action and animated shorts, “From Ground Zero” consists of 22 short films directed by filmmakers who live in the Gaza Strip and have been filming there over the past year. Spearheaded by Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi, the film had an unofficial screening in Cannes and then played in the Amman, Taormina and Toronto film festivals.
Trailer (no dialogue)
Panama: “Wake Up Mom,” Arianne Benedetti
Arianne Benedetti wrote, produced and directed “Wake Up Mom,” and also stars in the thriller as a mother searching for her daughter, who has disappeared from the small mountain village where they moved. Panama has been submitting films since 2014 (with Benedetti also directing its 2017 entry, “Beyond Brotherhood”) and has made the shortlist once.
Trailer (no subtitles)
Peru: “Yana-Wara,” Oscar Catacora and Tito Catacora
Director Oscar Catacora died in late 2021 while filming this black-and-white movie, which was finished by his brother Tito Catacora. The psychological drama focuses on a man accused of murdering his 13-year-old granddaughter, whose story is revealed during the trial. As is common in Latin American cinema, there’s a supernatural element to the story that unfolds.
Trailer (no English subtitles)
Poland: “Under the Volcano,” Damian Kocur
A Ukrainian family finds itself stuck in the Canary Islands when Russia invades Ukraine while they are on vacation in this drama co-written and directed by Damian Kocur, who said he wanted to contrast a family affected by war with others who just want to enjoy their vacations. The film premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
Portugal: “Grand Tour,” Miguel Gomes
Film critic-turned-director Miguel Gomes won the best director award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for this period drama, which is set in Burma during the British colonial rule of that Southeast Asian country, now Myanmar. With 40 submissions and no nominations or appearances on the shortlist, Portugal holds the record for the most entries without a nom. “Grand Tour” marks the third time one of Gomes’ films has been the country’s submission.
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Romania : “Three Kilometres to the End of the World,” Emanuel Parvu
A homophobic attack on the streets of a Romanian village sets things in motion in this slow-burn drama that won the Queer Palm at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Director Emmanuel Parvu is a former actor who worked with Romanian New Wave directors like Cristian Mungiu and Adrian Sitaru.
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Senegal: “Dahomey,” Mati Diop
Mati Diop, a French-born director and actress of French and Senegalese descent, made the Oscar shortlist and also won the Grand Prix in Cannes for her first film, 2019’s supernatural drama “Atlantics.” Her followup is a documentary about the West African kingdom of Dahomey, based around the 2021 transport of dozens of the kingdom’s plundered artifacts from Paris back to Africa.
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Serbia: “Russian Consul,” Miroslav Lekic
Based on a bestselling novel by Vuk Draskovic, “Russian Consul” finds a Serbian psychiatrist (the late Zarko Lausevic, in his last role) exiled to Kosovo after the death of a patient; there, he meets an apparently deluded history professor who calls himself the Russian Consul. It’s been 22 years since a film by Miroslav Lekic represented Serbia in the Oscar race, with the director also responsible for the country’s 2002 submission “Labyrinth.”
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Slovakia: “The Hungarian Dressmaker,” Iveta Grofova
The tensions of World War II in the Nazi-controlled Slovak Republic are the backdrop for this story of a young widow who finds a Jewish boy hiding in the barn of her home in a town battered by wartime deportations. Alexandra Borbely, previously part of the Oscar race courtesy of the 2017 nominee ”On Body and Soul,” stars as the title character.
Trailer (no subtitles)
Slovenia: “Family Therapy,” Sonja Prosenc
This black comedy finds the arrival of a stranger upsetting the dynamic of a seemingly flawless upper-class family. Director Sonja Prosenc has made three feature films over the last 10 years, and all three have been chosen as Oscar submissions by Slovenia. No Slovenian film has ever been nominated.
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South Korea: “12.12: The Day,” Kim Sung-su
This is the second South Korean Oscar submission in the last five years to tell a fictional story set against the 1979 assassination of Park Chung Hee and the military coup that followed. Following its release in November 2023, the film became the top-grossing Korean film of the year and the fourth highest-crossing Korean film ever. South Korean films have been shortlisted three times and won once over the past seven years, always with thoughtful, auteur-driven films (“Burning,” “Decision to Leave” and the winner, “Parasite”); but the three more action-driven films it has released during that time have failed to advance in the race.
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Spain: “Saturn Return,” Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodriguez
This film is about the making of the crucial third album by Granada-based indie rock band Los Planetas, but it fictionalizes events from the group’s history rather than sticking to the real story. An opening title tells viewers: “This is not a film about Los Planetas. This is a film about the legend of Los Planetas.”
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Taiwan: “Old Fox,” Hsiao Ya-chuan
Set in 1989, this drama from “Mirror Image” director Hsiao Ya-chuan centers on a single father trying to save money to buy a house and his pre-teen son who falls under the influence of a corrupt landlord. The film premiered at the Toyko International Film Festival in October 2023 and had a theatrical release in November of that year.
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Turkey: “Life,” Zeki Demirkubuz
This three-hour-plus drama from a director known for his rigorous, minimalist style follows a young woman fleeing an arranged marriage and a man who goes to Istanbul to search for his missing fiancé. Despite the presence of six entries from master auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, no Turkish submission has ever been nominated.
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Ukraine: “La Palisiada,” Philip Sotnychenko
A police detective and a forensic psychiatrist look into the murder of a colleague in his drama set in 1996, in a period just prior to the abolition of the death penalty in Ukraine. Ukraine is still looking for its first nomination, though it made the international shortlist last year with “20 Days in Mariupol,” which was nominated and won in the Best Documentary Feature category.
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Uruguay: “The Door Is There,” Facundo Ponce de Leon and Juan Ponce de Leon
The first documentary to be submitted by Uruguay in the Oscar race marks the directorial debut of Facundo Ponce de Leon and Juan Ponce de Leon. The film is focused on a series a virtual conversations that took place during the pandemic between an oncologist, Dr. Enric Benito, and one of his patients, Fernando Sureda, who is looking to end his life after suffering from ALS.
Trailer (no subtitles)
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