The Academy Award for best international feature film — known until this season as the best foreign-language film Oscar — will go to one of 93 countries that have submitted entries this year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday.
The list includes productions from every continent except Antarctica, and features contenders from Ghana, Nigeria and Uzbekistan for the first time. The highest-profile entries among them, as of this date, are South Korea’s Parasite (Bong Joon Ho‘s dramedy was awarded Cannes’ Palme d’Or), which is being released by Neon; Spain’s Pain and Glory (from director Pedro Almodovar, a past winner for 1999’s All About My Mother), a Sony Classics title; France’s Les Miserables (from helmer Ladj Ly), via Amazon; and Senegal’s Atlantics (for which Mati Diop became the first black female director ever to have a film in competition at Cannes, where it was awarded the Grand Prix), from Netflix.
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Also notable: the United Kingdom’s entry, Chichewa-language The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, was directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, a best actor Oscar nominee for 2013’s 12 Years a Slave.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines an international feature film as “a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes) produced outside the United States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.”
A shortlist of 10 films — one more than in years past — will be announced Dec. 16. Nominations in all categories will be announced Jan. 13, 2020, and the 92nd Oscars are set to be held Feb. 9.
The 2019 submissions, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Albania, The Delegation, director: Bujar Alimani
Algeria, Papicha, director: Mounia Meddour
Argentina, Heroic Losers, director: Sebastián Borensztein
Armenia, Lengthy Night, director: Edgar Baghdasaryan
Australia, Buoyancy, director: Rodd Rathjen
Austria, Joy, director: Sudabeh Mortezai
Bangladesh, Alpha, director: Nasiruddin Yousuff
Belarus, Debut, director: Anastasiya Miroshnichenko
Belgium, Our Mothers, director: César Díaz
Bolivia, Tu Me Manques, director: Rodrigo Bellott
Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Son, director: Ines Tanovic
Brazil, Invisible Life, director: Karim Aïnouz
Bulgaria, Ága, director: Milko Lazarov
Cambodia, In the Life of Music, directors: Caylee So, Sok Visal
Canada, Antigone, director: Sophie Deraspe
Chile, Spider, director: Andrés Wood
China, Ne Zha, director: Yu Yang
Colombia, Monos, director: Alejandro Landes
Costa Rica, The Awakening of the Ants, director: Antonella Sudasassi Furniss
Croatia, Mali, director: Antonio Nuic
Cuba, A Translator, directors: Rodrigo Barriuso, Sebastián Barriuso
Czech Republic, The Painted Bird, director: Václav Marhoul
Denmark, Queen of Hearts, director: May el-Toukhy
Dominican Republic, The Projectionist, director: José María Cabral
Ecuador, The Longest Night, director: Gabriela Calvache
Egypt, Poisonous Roses, director: Ahmed Fawzi Saleh
Estonia, Truth and Justice, director: Tanel Toom
Ethiopia, Running Against the Wind, director: Jan Philipp Weyl
Finland, Stupid Young Heart, director: Selma Vilhunen
France, Les Misérables, director: Ladj Ly
Georgia, Shindisi, director: Dimitri Tsintsadze
Germany, System Crasher, director: Nora Fingscheidt
Ghana, Azali, director: Kwabena Gyansah
Greece, When Tomatoes Met Wagner, director: Marianna Economou
Honduras, Blood, Passion and Coffee, director: Carlos Membreño
Hong Kong, The White Storm 2 Drug Lords, director: Herman Yau
Hungary, Those Who Remained, director: Barnabás Tóth
Iceland, A White, White Day, director: Hlynur Pálmason
India, Gully Boy, director: Zoya Akhtar
Indonesia, Memories of My Body, director: Garin Nugroho
Iran, Finding Farideh, directors: Azadeh Moussavi, Kourosh Ataee
Ireland, Gaza, directors: Garry Keane, Andrew McConnell
Israel, Incitement, director: Yaron Zilberman
Italy, The Traitor, director: Marco Bellocchio
Japan, Weathering With You, director: Makoto Shinkai
Kazakhstan, Kazakh Khanate. The Golden Throne, director: Rustem Abdrashov
Kenya, Subira, director: Ravneet Singh (Sippy) Chadha
Kosovo, Zana, director: Antoneta Kastrati
Kyrgyzstan, Aurora, director: Bekzat Pirmatov
Latvia, The Mover, director: Davis Simanis
Lebanon, 1982, director: Oualid Mouaness
Lithuania, Bridges of Time, directors: Audrius Stonys, Kristine Briede
Luxembourg, Tel Aviv on Fire, director: Sameh Zoabi
Malaysia, M for Malaysia, directors: Dian Lee, Ineza Roussille
Mexico, The Chambermaid, director: Lila Avilés
Mongolia, The Steed, director: Erdenebileg Ganbold
Montenegro, Neverending Past, director: Andro Martinovi?
Morocco, Adam, director: Maryam Touzani
Nepal, Bulbul, director: Binod Paudel
Netherlands, Instinct, director: Halina Reijn
Nigeria, Lionheart, director: Genevieve Nnaji
North Macedonia, Honeyland, directors: Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska
Norway, Out Stealing Horses, director: Hans Petter Moland
Pakistan, Laal Kabootar, director: Kamal Khan
Palestine, It Must Be Heaven, director: Elia Suleiman
Panama, Everybody Changes, director: Arturo Montenegro
Peru, Retablo, director: Alvaro Delgado Aparicio
Philippines, Verdict, director: Raymund Ribay Gutierrez
Poland, Corpus Christi, director: Jan Komasa
Portugal, The Domain, director: Tiago Guedes
Romania, The Whistlers, director: Corneliu Porumboiu
Russia, Beanpole, director: Kantemir Balagov
Saudi Arabia, The Perfect Candidate, director: Haifaa Al Mansour
Senegal, Atlantics, director: Mati Diop
Serbia, King Petar the First, director: Petar Ristovski
Singapore, A Land Imagined, director: Yeo Siew Hua
Slovakia, Let There Be Light, director: Marko Skop
Slovenia, History of Love, director: Sonja Prosenc
South Africa, Knuckle City, director: Jahmil X.T. Qubeka
South Korea, Parasite, director: Bong Joon Ho
Spain, Pain and Glory, director: Pedro Almodóvar
Sweden, And Then We Danced, director: Levan Akin
Switzerland, Wolkenbruch’s Wondrous Journey Into the Arms of a Shiksa, director: Michael Steiner
Taiwan, Dear Ex, directors: Mag Hsu, Chih-Yen Hsu
Thailand, Krasue: Inhuman Kiss, director: Sitisiri Mongkolsiri
Tunisia, Dear Son, director: Mohamed Ben Attia
Turkey, Commitment Asli, director: Semih Kaplanoglu
Ukraine, Homeward, director: Nariman Aliev
United Kingdom, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, director: Chiwetel Ejiofor
Uruguay, The Moneychanger, director: Federico Veiroj
Uzbekistan, Hot Bread, director: Umid Khamdamov
Venezuela, Being Impossible, director: Patricia Ortega
Vietnam, Furie, director: Le Van Kiet
