Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature Film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is set to be announced on December 21 with the final five nominees announced on January 24, 2022. The 95th Academy Awards will take place on March 12, 2023 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
The 2022 awards saw 93 submissions, although Jordan withdrew their film, leaving 92 eligible entries. The final five nominees included Denmark’s Flee, Italy’s The Hand Of God, Bhutan’s Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom, Norway’s The Worst Person In The World and eventual winner Drive My Car from Japan.
Latest submissions
Finland: Girl Picture (Alli Haapasalo)
This coming-of-age drama won the audience award in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition and received its European premiere in Berlinale Generation. Aamu Milonoff, Eleonoora Kauhanen and Linnea Leino star as three teenage girls whose meeting of each other sparks first loves and new desires. Leila Lyytikainen and Elina Pohjola of Citizen Jane Productions produced the title. Director Haapasalo made her feature directorial debut in 2016 with Love And Fury and Nordisk Film Award-winning anthology film Force Of Habit in 2019. Girl Picture is Finland’s 35th submission to the international feature award. The country has yet to win, but did pick up a nomination for Aki Kaurismäki’s The Man Without A Past in 2003 and made the shortlist last year with Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment No. 6. International sales: LevelK
Spain: Alcarràs (Carla Simon)
Read full article here. World sales: Mk2 Films
Austria: Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)
Read full article here. World sales: Mk2 Films
Paraguay: Eami (Paz Encina)
When her homeland is invaded by settlers, an indigenous woman embodies a bird-God spirit that takes her away to the forest to help heal her pain. Encina’s second feature film, after 2006 Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Paraguayan Hammock, this mystical drama picked up the top Tiger Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam and a nomination for best feature at Jerusalem. It is a co-production between Paraguay, Germany, Argentina, Netherlands, France and the US. Paraguay has yet to secure an Oscar nomination from its previous five submissions. International sales: MPM Premium
Indonesia: Ngeri-Ngeri Sedap (Bene Dion Rajagukguk)
Based on the director’s own novel, this comedy-drama sees two parents – who desperately want their children to come back home – orchestrate a plan to pretend they are getting a divorce. It is produced by Imajinari and Kathanika Entertainment. Though no nominations, Indonesia’s 23 submissions have recently included 2021 TIFF Platform winner Yuni; 2018 festival favourite Memories Of My Body; and 2017 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title Marlina The Murderer In Four Acts. Sales: pending
Americas
Brazil: Mars One (Gabriel Martins)
A lower-middle-class Black family try to stay hopeful following the election of a right-wing government in Martins’ fourth feature film starring an ensemble cast of Rejane Faria, Carlos Francisco, Camilla Damião and Cícero Lucas. The drama premiered at Sundance where it was nominated for the grand jury prize in World Cinema and has since screened at Tribeca and San Sebastian festivals to name a few. It was produced by Martins, his brother Maurilo Martins, Thiago Macêdo Correia and André Novais Oliveira who all co-founded the Brazilian production company Filmes de Plastico. Brazil has submitted 52 films and has yet to secure a nomination, though the country did make the shortlist in 2006 with Cao Hamburger’s The Year My Parent’s Went On Vacation. World sales: Magnolia Pictures
Canada: Eternal Spring (Jason Loftus)
Read full article here. International sales: Sideway Films
Costa Rica: Domingo And The Mist (Ariel Escalante Meza)
Read full article here. World sales: Film Boutique
Ecuador: Lo Invisible (Javier Andrade)
New mum Lusia struggle to cope when she returns home following a stint in the psychiatric hospital from post-partum depression. The film stars Anahí Hoeneisen, who also penned the screenplay with Andrade, as well as Juan Lorenzo Barragán and Matilde Lagos. Lo Invisible premiered in the Discovery strand of the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and has also screened at Malaga where it was nominated for best Iberoamerican film. As well as being Ecuador’s Oscar submission, the film will represent the country at Spain’s 37th Goya Awards. An Ecuadorian film is yet to be nominated for best international feature but the country has submitted 10 films to the category since 2000. World sales: Tropico Cine
Panama: Birthday Boy (Arturo Montenegro)
Montenegro follows up from his 2020 festival hit Everybody Changes, which was Panama’s 2019 Oscar submission, with Birthday Boy. Ahead of his 45th birthday party, Jimmy invites all his friends and family to spend one last weekend with him before he takes his own life. It stars Albi De Abrue, Joavany Alvares, Julia Dorto and Gabriela Gnazzo, and is produced by Q Films’ Andry José Barrientos, who also co-wrote the script with Montenegro. Panama has never been nominated for an Oscar but has submitted eight times since 2014, the last in 2021 with Abner Benaim’s Plaza Catedral making the shortlist. World sales: APM Entertainment
Paraguay: Eami (Paz Encina)
When her homeland is invaded by settlers, an indigenous woman embodies a bird-God spirit that takes her away to the forest to help heal her pain. Encina’s second feature film, after 2006 Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Paraguayan Hammock, this mystical drama picked up the Tiger award at Rotterdam Film Festival and a nomination for best feature at Jerusalem. It is a co-production between Paraguay, Germany, Argentina, Netherlands, France and US. Paraguay has yet to secure an Oscar nomination from its previous five submissions. International sales: MPM Premium
Uruguay: The Employer And The Employee (Manuel Nieto Zas)
Premiering in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight selection in 2021, Nieto’s third feature explores the relationship between the wealthy owner of agricultural companies and his employee, both trying to support their children, when tragedy strikes. The two leads are played by Nahuel Perez Biscayart and Cristian Borges and the title is produced by Zas, Bárbara Francisco, Georgina Baisch, Cecilia Salim, Paola Wink, Michael Wahrmann, Julia Alves, Nathalie Trafford. The Employer and The Employee went on to screen at Jerusalem, where it was nominated for the in the spirit of freedom award, and San Sebastian, where it was nominated for the Horizons award. Uruguay’s first submission in 1992, Adolfo Aristarain’s A Place In The World, was nominated for the Oscar but subsequently disqualified as an investigation uncovered that the production was almost entirely Argentinian. The country’s 20 submissions since have all failed to secure a nomination. International sales: Latido Films
Asia
Japan: Plan 75 (Chie Hayakawa)
After taking home the Oscar last year with Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, Japan will be hoping to repeat its success with Hayakawa’s debut feature which follows three different people wrapped up in the government’s new voluntary plan to euthanize the elderly and tackle its ageing society. Veteran actor Chieko Baisho stars, as one of the senior citizens taking part, alongside Hayato Isomura and Yumi Kawai. Plan 75 premiered in the Un Certain Regard strand of this year’s Cannes where it picked up a special mention in the Golden Camera category. It is produced by Eiko Mizuno-Gray and Jason Gray of Loaded Films, and Frédéric Corvez and Maéva Savinien of Urban Factory. Besides last year’s win, Japan has won one other time with Yōjirō Takita’s Departures in 2008 and has been nominated 12 times from 69 submissions. Additionally, the country picked up three honorary awards during the 1950’s – Rashomon, Gate of Hell, and Samurai, The Legend Of Musashi. International sales: Urban Sales
South Korea: Decision To Leave (Park Chan-wook)
Read the full article here. International sales: CJ ENM
Taiwan: Goddamned Asura (Lou Yi-An)
When a shooting occurs in a crowded night market, six individuals’ lives become intertwined. Lou’s crime drama is inspired by real events, and features a cast including Wang Yu-Xuan, Mo Tzu-Yi and Joseph Huang. Kao Chun-Ting, Hsu Kuo-Lun and Wang Shin-Hong produce. It premiered at the Golden Horse Film Festival, where Wang Yu-Xuan won the best supporting actress award. The film also scooped best screenplay and another best supporting actress award for Wang Yu-Xuan at Taipei Film Festival. It is Lou’s fourth feature, with credits including TV series Roseki. Taiwan most recently made the shortlist in 2020 with Chung Mong-Hong’s family drama A Sun. Prior to that, the last shortlisted entry was Wei Te-sheng’s Warriors Of The Rainbow: Seediq Bale in 2012. The last to achieve a nomination was Ang Lee’s martial-arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which won the award and three further Oscars in 2001. World sales: Hope Marketing Entertainment
Europe
Albania: A Cup Of Coffee And New Shoes On (Gentian Koçi)
In this drama, two identical deaf-mute twin brothers in their 40s discover they have a genetic disease that mean they will progressively and irreversibly go blind. Koçi’s previous feature, Daybreak, premiered in competition at Sarajevo Film Festival in 2017. His latest marks the 15th submission to the international feature award from Albania, which not yet made the longlist stage with its previous entries. World sales: Artalb Film
Austria: Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)
Read full article here. World sales: Mk2 Films
Bulgaria: Mother (Zornitsa Sophia)
This is Sofia’s second submission to the Academy following her 2004 debut feature Mila From Mars and brings Bulgaria’s total submissions to 29, with no nomination as of yet. Mother is inspired by the real life story of a woman who went through menopause aged 32 while trying to conceive and decided to set up a theatre programme for orphans in both Bulgaria and Kenya instead. Sofia produced the title with her company MQ Pictures and it is co-produced by Irena Markovich through Croatia’s Focus Media, Marcel Lenz through Germany’s Ostlicht Filmproduktion and Bulgaria’s Nu Boyana. Sales: pending
Czech Republic: Il Boemo (Petr Václav)
This period drama will world premiere in competition at San Sebastian and marks the sixth fiction feature by Vaclav, whose debut Marian won the Silver Leopard at Locarno in 1996. His latest is about Czech composer Josef Myslivecek, who travelled from Prague to Italy in the mid-18th century to fulfil his dream of becoming leading opera composer. The Czech Republic’s international Oscar peak came in 1997 when Jan Svěrák’s Kolya won the award. Subsequently, nominations were secured in 2001 and 2004, while Václav Marhoul’s The Painted Bird made the shortlist ahead of the awards in 2020. International sales: Loco Films
Finland: Girl Picture (Alli Haapasalo)
This coming-of-age drama secured the audience award in Sundance’s World Dramatic Cinema strand and a nomination in Berlin’s Silver Bear award for best film. Aamu Milonoff, Eleonoora Kauhanen and Linnea Leino star as three teenage girls whose meeting of each other sparks first loves and new desires. Leila Lyytikainen and Elina Pohjola of Citizen Jane Productions produced the title. Girl Picture is Finland’s 35th submission to the international feature award; it has yet to win, but did pick up a nomination for Aki Kaurismäki’s The Man Without A Past in 2003 and just last year made the shortlist with Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment No. 6. International sales: LevelK
Germany: All Quiet On The Western Front (Edward Berger)
Read full article here. World sales: Netflix
Greece: Magnetic Fields (Yorgos Gousis)
After meeting by chance, a man and a woman decide to embark on a road trip to bury a mysterious metal box in Gousis’ debut film which picked up best film, first- time director, screenplay and best actress prizes at the 2022 Iris film awards of the Hellenic Film Academy. Gousis wrote the script with Elena Topalidou and Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, who star in the film, and it was produced by Yorgos Karnavas and Konstantinos Kontovrakis’ local powerhouse Heretic. Despite a strong local film industry, Greece has never won the international feature award from 40 previous entries but has secured five nominations, most recently in 2011 with Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth. World sales: Heretic
Hungary: Blockade (Ádám Tősér)
This historical drama charts the real life story of Hungary’s first democratically elected Prime Minister, switching between his freedom fighter days of 1956 and the infamous four day taxi blockade of 1990. It was written by Norber Köbli and by produced by Film Positive’s Tamás Lajos. The country has picked up the Oscar in this category twice before – in 1981 for Istvan Szabo’s Mephisto and in 2014 for László Nemes’ Son Of Saul – and has been nominated a further eight times. International sales: NFI World Sales
Ireland: The Quiet Girl (Colm Bairéad)
Read the full article here. International sales: Bankside Films
Latvia: January (Viestur Kairish)
This is Kairish’s second time hoping to bring home an Oscar for Latvia – the first being 2017’s The Chronicles Of Melanie – and this coming of age story picked up best international feature at Tribecca earlier this year. The film is set in post-Soviet era and follows an aspiring filmmaker and his friends figuring themselves out amidst political turmoil. January stars Karlis Arnolds Avots, Alise Danovska, Sandis Runge, Baiba Broka, Aleksas Kazanavicius and Juhan Ulfsak and is produced by Latvia’s Mistrus Media, Inese Boka-Grube and Gints Grube, and co-produced by Lithuania’s Artbox and Poland’s Staron Film. Latvia has yet to be nominated for an Oscar but has submitted 13 previous times. World sales: The Yellow Affair
The Netherlands: Narcosis (Martijn de Jong)
The debut feature of de Jong revolves around a close-knit family that is disrupted when the father dies during a professional dive. The cast is led by Thekla Reuten, who starred in Oscar-nominated Dutch feature Twin Sisters in 2002, and Fedja van Huêt, the lead actor in crime drama Character, which also marked the last time the Netherlands won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 1998. Produced by Oak Motion Pictures, it will world premiere at the Netherlands Film Festival in September. The last three times the country made the shortlist was for Black Book in 2006, Winter In Wartime in 2009 and Accused in 2014. International sales: Coccinelle Film Sales
Poland: EO (Jerzy Skolimowski)
A contemporary adaptation of Robert Bresson’s 1966 cult classic Au Hasard Balthazar, Skolimowski’s latest features follows the life of EO, a donkey who travels from a Polish circus to an Italian slaughterhouse. Isabelle Huppert headlines the cast, alongside Sandra Drzymalska, Lorenzo Zurzolo and Mateusz Kosciukiewicz. Skolimowski, whose credits also include 2010’s Essential Killing and 2015’s 11 Minutes, produces the title with EO co-writer Ewa Piaskowska of Skopia Film, and Italian producer Eileen Tasca of Alia Film. UK producer Jeremy Thomas is the executive producer through his Recorded Picture Company. Premiering in competition at the Cannes film festival earlier this year, the drama picked up the jury prize (jointly awarded with The Eight Mountains) and best soundtrack. Poland has won the Oscar once, in 2014 with Paweł Pawlikowski’s Ida, and has been nominated 11 times out of 57 submissions – the first in 1963 for Roman Polanski’s Knife In The Water. World sales: HanWay Films
Slovenia: Orchestra (Matevž Luzar)
This black and white feature follows a small town brass band that go on tour to perform in a small Austrian town, which allows the musicians to escape their everyday lives and face up to some home truths. It marks the second feature of Luzar following comedy Good To Go in 2012 and premiered at Cottbus Film Festival. Slovenia has submitted films for the category since 1993 but has yet to make the shortlist. World sales: Gustav Film
Spain: Alcarràs (Carla Simon)
Read full article here. World sales: Mk2 Films
Switzerland: A Piece Of Sky (Michael Koch)
Set in a remote Swiss Alpine village, Koch’s second feature centres on a recently married rural wife’s attempts to deal with her husband’s increasingly erratic behaviour after he is diagnosed with a brain tumour. Co-produced by Zurich-based Hugofilm and Germany’s Pandora Film, the feature had its world premiere in competition at the Berlinale where it received a special mention from the jury. It has since been invited to more than 20 festivals including Karlovy Vary, Hong Kong and Locarno as well as Mexico’s Guanajuato, where it won best international feature. Switzerland has twice won the international feature award: Richard Dembo’s Dangerous Moves in 1985 and Xavier Koller’s Journey of Hope in 1991. The country has not received a nomination since, with three prior to Dembo’s victory. World sales: New Europe Film Sales
Ukraine: Klondike (Maryna Er Gorbach)
A festival favourite, Gorbach’s war drama has already picked up best directing in dramatic world cinema at Sundance, where it premiered, the Panorama prize at Berlin and best director at Sarajevo, to name a few. The Ukraine-Turkey co-production between Kedr Film and Protim VP follows a family living on the border of Ukraine and Russia amidst war, conflict and the international air catastrophe that occurred July 17, 2014. Ukraine has submitted 14 times since 1997, though was disqualified in 2004 for Pavlo Chukhrai’s A Driver For Vera owing to insufficient Ukrainian contribution, and has not received a nomination yet. International sales: ArtHood Entertainment
Middle East and Africa
Algeria: Our Brothers (Rachid Bouchareb)
The country’s first ever submission in 1969, Costa Gavras’ Z, took home the Oscar and Algeria has since submitted 21 other times. Bouchareb has secured three out of four of the country’s subsequent nominations – Dust Of Life in 1995, Days Of Glory in 2006 and Outside The Law in 2010 – and will be hoping to repeat history once more with Our Brothers. The film screened in Cannes’ Premiere strand earlier this year and is inspired by the story of Malik Oussekine, a young man killed by police following student demonstrations in 1986. It stars French cinema mainstays Reda Kateb and Samir Guesmi alongside Raphael Personnaz and rising star Lyna Khoudri (Gagarine). Bouchareb produced the title for 3B Productions and co-writes with novelist Kaouther Adimi. International sales: Wild Bunch
Tunisia: Under The Fig Trees (Erige Sehiri)
Tunisian-French director Sehiri made her fiction feature debut with this gentle human drama set in an orchard, which played at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. The film follows a group of teenage girls working as fig pickers. Tunisia scored its first-ever Oscar international feature nomination at the 2021 awards for Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Man Who Sold His Skin. International sales: Luxbox
Turkey: Kerr (Tayfun Pirselimoğlu)
This crime thriller follows a man who witnesses a murder and reports it to the police, only to find himself implicated. Based on Pirselimoglu’s novel of the same name, the filmmaker is known for features such as Hair, which played in competition at Locarno in 2010. Turkey has yet to receive an Oscar nomination in this category from 29 previous submissions, five of which came from renowned director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who came closest to a nod when reaching the shortlist with Three Monkeys in 2009. World sales: Gataki Films
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