The United Kingdom has submitted films for consideration for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film[nb 1] irregularly since 1991. The award is handed out annually by the United StatesAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue.[3] The UK has one of the world's most visible film industries and British films, as well as British actors, actresses and behind-the-scenes crew members have been prominently featured amongst Oscar nominees since the 1930s. Most British features are not eligible for the Best International Feature Film award, because they are produced in English.
As of 2024[update], the United Kingdom has submitted twenty films for Oscar consideration, with three of them getting Oscar nominations: The Zone of Interest became the first British co-production film to earn a nomination for Best International Feature Film and Best Picture simultaneously, winning the former as the first film to win in that category.[5]
Half of these films were made by directors from or based in Wales, and were partially or completely filmed in the Welsh language.
Other films have been in languages spoken in the UK's ethnic minority communities. As yet, there have been no submissions in Scots, Angloromani, Cornish or Scottish Gaelic, and one film (Branwen) that was partially in Irish. The 2007 film Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle (Scottish Gaelic) was promoted by campaigners but was not submitted to the Academy.[6][7]
Submissions
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1956.[8] The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via secret ballot to determine the five nominees for the award.[3] Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by the United Kingdom for review by the Academy for the award by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony.
^Britain's initial Oscar submission, Lost in Siberia, was set in Russia, and focused on a British archaeologist imprisoned in a Soviet gulag.
^ abcdefAll six British submissions between 1993 and 2002 were set in Wales.
^2008's Hope Eternal is set in Southern Africa but made by a Welsh director.
^In 2009, the UK submitted a documentary, and a film directed by a woman, for the first time with Afghan Star, about an American Idol-type talent competition in post-Taliban Afghanistan.
In 2002, BAFTA originally selected the Hindi languageThe Warrior as its Oscar submission but the film was controversially disqualified by AMPAS because the film did not take place in, nor was it filmed in a language indigenous to, the United Kingdom.[19] The rule was changed in 2005, and the first film to benefit was a Hindi-language film from Canada.
In 2007, BAFTA invited British filmmakers to submit films for consideration to represent the UK in the category. Two films responded to the call: Calon Gaeth, in Welsh and Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle, one of the first films made in Scots Gaelic. For unknown reasons, BAFTA declined to submit either film. The ensuing controversy led to widespread coverage in the international press and producer Christopher Young resigning his membership of BAFTA. The matter was also raised in the Scottish Parliament[20] and BAFTA was asked to reconsider its decision, to no avail.
^The category was previously named the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but this was changed to the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in April 2019, after the Academy deemed the word "Foreign" to be outdated.[1][2]
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