First out of the gate are the submissions for Best Foreign Language Film. Sadly, each country gets one submission, so the films listed below are the films thought to have the best chance at gaining a nomination. Most of them you will not recognize, but there are a few that have either been buzzed about or released stateside. Mexico’s release “Cantinflas” was a nationwide release about one of the most famous Mexican comedians known as Mario Moreno. With a gross of $6,370,412 in the U.S. plenty of people did venture out to see this. Other releases more widely known are Venezuela’s period piece “The Liberator”, Latvia’s animated documentary “Rocks in My Pockets”, New Zealand’s action packed “The Dead Lands”, Sweden’s comical skiing drama “Force Majeure”, and Poland’s already award-winning “Ida”, which lands high on my list of foreign films I expect to be nominated.
Some word-of-mouth entries include Belgium’s “Two Days, One Night” starring Marion Cotillard. Do not rule out Marion’s popularity in getting Academy members to root for this film. It is being reported that Lithuania’s “The Gambler” will premiere at the AFI Fest, placing this with potential groundswell. Also, Russia’s “Leviathan” has already been labeled one of the best films of the year coming out of Cannes, so you might want that at the top of your list as well. Argentina’s “Wild Tales”, Canada’s “Mommy”, and Turkey’s “Winter Sleep” are also alongside “Leviathan” in being praised during Cannes. Since this list of 83 films from 83 countries will eventually be narrowed down to five, there really is no telling what will make the cut, but the films mentioned above are definitely a good place to start.
- Afghanistan, “A Few Cubic Meters of Love,” Jamshid Mahmoudi
- Argentina, “Wild Tales,” Damián Szifrón
- Australia, “Charlie’s Country,” Rolf de Heer
- Austria, “The Dark Valley,” Andreas Prochaska
- Azerbaijan, “Nabat,” Elchin Musaoglu
- Bangladesh, “Glow of the Firefly,” Khalid Mahmood Mithu
- Belgium, “Two Days, One Night,” Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne
- Bolivia, “Forgotten,” Carlos Bolado
- Bosnia and Herzegovina, “With Mom,” Faruk Lončarevič
- Brazil, “The Way He Looks,” Daniel Ribeiro
- Bulgaria, “Bulgarian Rhapsody,” Ivan Nitchev
- Canada, “Mommy,” Xavier Dolan
- Chile, “To Kill a Man,” Alejandro Fernández Almendras
- China, “The Nightingale,” Philippe Muyl
- Colombia, “Mateo,” María Gamboa
- Costa Rica, “Red Princesses,” Laura Astorga Carrera
- Croatia, “Cowboys,” Tomislav Mršić
- Cuba, “Conducta,” Ernesto Daranas Serrano
- Czech Republic, “Fair Play,” Andrea Sedláčková
- Denmark, “Sorrow and Joy,” Nils Malmros
- Dominican Republic, “Cristo Rey,” Leticia Tonos
- Ecuador, “Silence in Dreamland,” Tito Molina
- Egypt, “Factory Girl,” Mohamed Khan
- Estonia, “Tangerines,” Zaza Urushadze
- Ethiopia, “Difret,” Zeresenay Berhane Mehari
- Finland, “Concrete Night,” Pirjo Honkasalo
- France, “Yves Saint Laurent,” Bertrand Bonello
- Georgia, “Corn Island,” George Ovashvili
- Germany, “Beloved Sisters,” Dominik Graf
- Greece, “Little England,” Pantelis Voulgaris
- Hong Kong, “The Golden Era,” Ann Hui
- Hungary, “White God,” Kornél Mundruczó
- Iceland, “Life in a Fishbowl,” Baldvin Zophoníasson
- India, “Liar’s Dice,” Geethu Mohandas
- Indonesia, “Soekarno,” Hanung Bramantyo
- Iran, “Today,” Reza Mirkarimi
- Iraq, “Mardan,” Batin Ghobadi
- Ireland, “The Gift,” Tom Collins
- Israel, “Gett, the Trial of Viviane Amsalem,” Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz
- Italy, “Human Capital,” Paolo Virzì
- Japan, “The Light Shines Only There,” Mipo O
- Kosovo, “Three Windows and a Hanging,” Isa Qosja
- Kyrgyzstan, “Kurmanjan Datka Queen of the Mountains,” Sadyk Sher-Niyaz
- Latvia, “Rocks in My Pockets,” Signe Baumane
- Lebanon, “Ghadi,” Amin Dora
- Lithuania, “The Gambler,” Ignas Jonynas
- Luxembourg, “Never Die Young,” Pol Cruchten
- Macedonia, “To the Hilt,” Stole Popov
- Malta, “Simshar,” Rebecca Cremona
- Mauritania, “Timbuktu,” Abderrahmane Sissako
- Mexico, “Cantinflas,” Sebastián del Amo
- Moldova, “The Unsaved,” Igor Cobileanski
- Montenegro, “The Kids from the Marx and Engels Street,” Nikola Vukčević
- Morocco, “The Red Moon,” Hassan Benjelloun
- Nepal, “Jhola,” Yadav Kumar Bhattarai
- Netherlands, “Accused,” Paula van der Oest
- New Zealand, “The Dead Lands,” Toa Fraser
- Norway, “1001 Grams,” Bent Hamer
- Pakistan, “Dukhtar,” Afia Nathaniel
- Palestine, “Eyes of a Thief,” Najwa Najjar
- Panama, “Invasion,” Abner Benaim
- Peru, “The Gospel of the Flesh,” Eduardo Mendoza
- Philippines, “Norte, the End of History,” Lav Diaz
- Poland, “Ida,” Paweł Pawlikowski
- Portugal, “What Now? Remind Me,” Joaquim Pinto
- Romania, “The Japanese Dog,” Tudor Cristian Jurgiu
- Russia, “Leviathan,” Andrey Zvyagintsev
- Serbia, “See You in Montevideo,” Dragan Bjelogrlić
- Singapore, “Sayang Disayang,” Sanif Olek
- Slovakia, “A Step into the Dark,” Miloslav Luther
- Slovenia, “Seduce Me,” Marko Šantić
- South Africa, “Elelwani,” Ntshavheni Wa Luruli
- South Korea, “Haemoo,” Shim Sung-bo
- Spain, “Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed,” David Trueba
- Sweden, “Force Majeure,” Ruben Östlund
- Switzerland, “The Circle,” Stefan Haupt
- Taiwan, “Ice Poison,” Midi Z
- Thailand, “The Teacher’s Diary,” Nithiwat Tharathorn
- Turkey, “Winter Sleep,” Nuri Bilge Ceylan
- Ukraine, “The Guide,” Oles Sanin
- United Kingdom, “Little Happiness,” Nihat Seven
- Uruguay, “Mr. Kaplan,” Álvaro Brechner
- Venezuela, “The Liberator,” Alberto Arvelo
