In 1956, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) asked individual countries to submit their best films of the year for the inaugural Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. In previous years, the Foreign Language Oscar was not a regular award, and there were no nominees – a winner was simply announced at the Oscar ceremony.

Eight countries from Western Europe and East Asia submitted films for consideration for the first award, and five of these were selected as Oscar nominees.

The inaugural winner, Italy's La Strada, was announced at the Oscar ceremony, which took place on March 27, 1957.^[1]

Submissions

Submitting country	Film title used in nomination	Original title	Language(s)	Director(s)	Result
Denmark	Qivitoq	Qivitoq	Danish	Erik Balling	Nominated
France	Gervaise	Gervaise	French	René Clément	Nominated
West Germany	The Captain of Köpenick	Der Hauptmann von Köpenick	German	Helmut Käutner	Nominated
Italy	La Strada	La strada	Italian	Federico Fellini	Won Academy Award
Japan	The Burmese Harp	ビルマの竪琴 (Biruma no tategoto)	Japanese	Kon Ichikawa	Nominated
Philippines	Anak dalita	Anak dalita	Tagalog	Lamberto V. Avellana	Not nominated
Spain	Afternoon of the Bulls	Tarde de toros	Spanish	Ladislao Vajda	Not nominated
Sweden	The Staffan Stolle Story	Ratataa	Swedish	Hasse Ekman	Not nominated