The Race for the Foreign Language Film Oscar

In the race for the Foreign Language Film Oscar the countries and films submitted look to break records, barriers and history. Major players like Chile’s award-winning Gloria, Italy’s The Great Beauty and France’s surprise pick Renoir are definitely in the conversation. But the announcement that Saudi Arabia would have its first submission ever has really captured the spotlight. In a country where films aren’t even allowed to be shown, Wadjda is the story of a girl who simply wants to ride a bike (it is illegal for a female to do so in Saudi Arabia). That a woman also directs the film will make this seemingly undeniable for even the pickiest and most nefarious foreign language film committee voter.

AwardsWatch will run a constantly updated list of the films submitted for the Foreign Language Film Oscar and provide commentary as the choices are finalized. Below is the list of currently submitted films and trailers for some of the films. Films with a * next to their country name are films we’re keeping an eye in the race. Join the conversation here in the forums.

• AUSTRALIA – The Rocket
• AUSTRIA – The Wall
• BANGLADESH – Television
• *BELGIUM – The Broken Circle Breakdown
• BRAZIL – Neighbouring Sounds
• BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA – An Episode in the Life on an Iron Picker
• BULGARIA – The Colour of the Chameleon
• CANADA – Gabrielle
• CHILE – Gloria
• CROATIA – Halima’s Path
• CZECH REPUBLIC – Burning Bush
• *DENMARK – The Hunt
• DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Who’s the Boss?
• FINLAND – Disciple
• FRANCE – Renoir
• GEORGIA – In Bloom
• *GERMANY – Two Lives
• GREECE – Boy Eating the Bird’s Food
• HONG KONG – The Grandmaster
• *HUNGARY – The Notebook
• ICELAND – Of Horses and Men
• INDIA – The Good Road
• *ITALY – The Great Beauty
• JAPAN – The Great Passage
• LATVIA – Mother I Love You
• LEBANON – Ghadi
• LUXEMBOURG – Blind Spot
• MEXICO – Heli
• MONTENEGRO – Bad Destiny
• MOROCCO – God’s Horses
• NEPAL – Soongava: Dance of the Orchids
• NETHERLANDS – Borgman
• NEW ZEALAND – White Lies
• NORWAY – I Am Yours
• PAKISTAN – Zinda Bhaag
• PHILIPPINES – Transit
• PORTUGAL – Lines of Wellington
• *ROMANIA – Child’s Pose
• RUSSIA – The Good Road
• *SAUDI ARABIA – Wajdja
• SERBIA – Circles
• SINGAPORE – Ilo Ilo
• SLOVAKIA – My Dog Killer
• SLOVENIA – Class Enemy
• SOUTH AFRICA – Four Corners
• SOUTH KOREA – Juvenile Offender
• SWEDEN – Eat Sleep Die
• SWITZERLAND – More than Honey
• TAIWAN – Soul
• *TURKEY – The Butterfly’s Dream
• UKRAINE – Paradjanov
• UNITED KINGDOM – Metro Manila
• VENEZUELA – Breach in the Silence

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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