This is a list of submissions to the 66th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was created in 1956 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honour non-English-speaking films produced outside the United States.[1] The award is handed out annually, and is accepted by the winning film's director, although it is considered an award for the submitting country as a whole.[2] Countries are invited by the Academy to submit their best films for competition according to strict rules, with only one film being accepted from each country.[2]

For the 66th Academy Awards, thirty-five films were submitted in the category Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy had initially invited 57 countries to send their best films, and the submission deadline was set on November 22, 1993.[3] While the rules were basically unchanged, the applications for the 66th Academy Awards included a new form requesting information about the nationalities of the film's creative team, due to the controversy that had led to the disqualification of A Place in the World at the 65th Academy Awards.[4]

The bolded titles were the five nominated films, which came from Hong Kong, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. It was the first time that the majority of the nominees in this category came from outside Europe (it happened again in 1997, 2006, 2011 and 2018) and is the only time when there have been three Asian nominees. Vietnam made history by becoming the only Southeast Asian country ever to be nominated in this category (accurate as of 2013). The prize was ultimately awarded to Spain for the romantic comedy, Belle Époque.[5]

Submissions

Submitting country Film title used in nomination Original title Language(s) Director(s) Result
 Argentina Gatica, el mono Spanish Leonardo Favio Not nominated[6]
 Austria Indien German Paul Harather Not nominated
 Belgium Just Friends Dutch, French Marc-Henri Wajnberg Not nominated[7]
 Bulgaria Canary Season Сезонът на канарчетата Bulgarian Evgeni Mihailov Not nominated
 Canada The Sex of the Stars Le sexe des étoiles French Paule Baillargeon Not nominated[8]
 Chile Johnny 100 Pesos Johnny cien pesos Spanish Gustavo Graef Marino Not nominated[9]
 China Country Teachers 凤凰琴 Mandarin He Qun Not nominated[10]
 Croatia Countess Dora Kontesa Dora Serbo-Croatian Zvonimir Berković Not nominated
 Denmark Black Harvest Sort høst Danish Anders Refn Not nominated
 Finland Ripa Hits the Skids Ripa ruostuu Finnish Christian Lindblad Not nominated
 France Germinal French Claude Berri Not nominated[11]
 Germany Justiz German Hans W. Geißendörfer Not nominated[12]
 Hong Kong Farewell My Concubine 霸王別姬 Mandarin Chen Kaige Nominated[11]
 Hungary We Never Die Sose halunk meg Hungarian Róbert Koltai Not nominated
 Iceland The Sacred Mound Hin helgu vé Icelandic Hrafn Gunnlaugsson Not nominated[13]
 India Rudaali रुदाली Hindi Kalpana Lajmi Not nominated[14][15]
 Israel Revenge of Itzik Finkelstein נקמתו של איציק פינקלשטיין Hebrew Enrique Rottenberg Not nominated
 Italy The Great Pumpkin Il grande cocomero Italian Francesca Archibugi Not nominated[16]
 Japan Madadayo まあだだよ Japanese Akira Kurosawa Not nominated[11]
 Mexico Cronos Spanish, English Guillermo del Toro Not nominated[11]
 Netherlands Little Blond Death De Kleine blonde dood Dutch Jean van de Velde Not nominated[17]
 Norway The Telegraphist Telegrafisten Norwegian Erik Gustavson Not nominated[18]
 Peru Report on Death Reportaje a la muerte Spanish Danny Gavidia Not nominated[19]
 Poland Squadron Szwadron Polish Juliusz Machulski Not nominated[20]
 Portugal Abraham's Valley Vale Abraão Portuguese Manoel de Oliveira Not nominated
 Romania The Conjugal Bed Patul conjugal Romanian Mircea Daneliuc Not nominated
 Slovakia Everything I Like Všetko čo mám rád Slovak Martin Šulík Not nominated[11]
 Slovenia When I Close My Eyes Ko zaprem oči Slovene Franci Slak Not nominated[11]
 Spain Belle Époque Belle Époque Spanish Fernando Trueba Won Academy Award[11]
 Sweden The Slingshot Kådisbellan Swedish Åke Sandgren Not nominated[11]
 Switzerland The Diary of Lady M Le journal de Lady M French Alain Tanner Not nominated
 Taiwan The Wedding Banquet 喜宴 Mandarin, English Ang Lee Nominated[11]
 Turkey The Blue Exile Mavi Sürgün Turkish Erden Kıral Not nominated
 United Kingdom Hedd Wyn Welsh, English Paul Turner Nominated[11]
 Vietnam The Scent of Green Papaya Mùi đu đủ xanh Vietnamese Tran Anh Hung Nominated[11]

References

  1. ^ "History of the Academy Awards 2 - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". 2008-06-22. Archived from the original on 2008-06-22. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  2. ^ a b "Rule 14 | 81st Academy Awards Rules | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". 2008-08-09. Archived from the original on 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
  3. ^ "Oscar Legacy: Academy Awards Ceremonies from 1990–1999". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 2009-03-02. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
  4. ^ Marx, Andy (23 August 1993). "AMPAS spells out regs in foreign-lingo invites". Variety. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  5. ^ "The 66th Academy Awards (1994) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  6. ^ Ares, Carlos (28 January 1994). "El filme argentino Gatica, el mono se retira de los Oscar". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  7. ^ "Just Friends". Official website of Michel Herr. Archived from the original on October 17, 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  8. ^ "Monique Proulx" (in French). Éditions du Boréal (fr). Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  9. ^ "Biografía director: Gustavo Graef-Marino" (in Spanish). Canal 13. Archived from the original on 2009-06-03. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  10. ^ Hornaday, Ann (5 December 1993). "For Foreign Films, the Rules For an Oscar Are Set in Sand". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Frook, John Evan (30 November 1993). "Acad inks Cates, unveils foreign-language entries". Variety. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
  12. ^ "Best Features". German Films. Archived from the original on 2007-11-30. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
  13. ^ European Film Academy. "CV of Hrafn Gunnlaugsson" (DOC). Hrafn Gunnlaugsson Homepage. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  14. ^ "Oscar Wild". MiD DAY. 2006-09-10. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  15. ^ "India's Oscar Failures". NDTV. Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  16. ^ "Il grande cocomero corre per l'Oscar". la Repubblica (in Italian): 41. 5 November 1993. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  17. ^ Sandra Brennan (2012). "De Kleine Blonde Dood (1994)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  18. ^ "Weekend". Norwegian Films 1999. Norwegian Film Institute (no). Archived from the original on 2010-09-05. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  19. ^ "Reportaje a la muerte" (in Spanish). Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (es). Archived from the original on 2008-02-25. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  20. ^ "Squadron". Zebra Film Studio (pl). Retrieved 2009-06-12.
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