Now that the dust has settled, and the majority of film festivals that are influential on the Oscars race, like Sundance, Cannes, and Venice, have already occurred, countries around the world are finalizing which film they will be submitting to represent them in the Best International Feature category.
While the films do not need to be in the official language of the submitting country, they cannot be in English for a majority of the film, nor can they have been produced inside the United States.
The most controversial part of the submission process is that the films have to have been chosen by a national organization, jury, or committee composed of people from the film industry. In practice, that has led to government interference in the selection process, meaning award-winning Iranian films like “No Bears” and “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” or acclaimed Indian films like “All We Imagine as Light” and “RRR,” for example, are overlooked in favor of films more palatable to officials than to the Academy voters the submissions are meant to impress.
Last year, there were 89 submissions for Best International Feature. Countries have until Wednesday, October 1, 2025 to make their submissions. Preliminary voting for Best International Feature, as well as nine other categories, will occur from December 8 through 12. The following week, on December 16, the Academy will announce its Oscars shortlists, and voters will later choose the five Best International Feature nominees from a list of the 15 submissions that received the most votes. The 2026 Oscar nominations will be announced on January 22, and the 96th Academy Awards will occur on Sunday, March 15, 2026.
See the full list of 2026 submissions for Best International Feature category below, organized alphabetically by country, and updated regularly as more selections are made.
Armenia: “My Armenian Phantoms” (Tamara Stepanyan)
Austria: “Peacock” (Bernhard Wenger)
Azerbaijan: “Taghiyev: Oil” (Zaur Gasimli)
Belgium: “Young Mothers” (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: “Blum: Masters of Their Own Destiny” (Jasmila Žbanić)
Brazil: “The Secret Agent” (Kleber Mendonça Filho)
Bulgaria: “Tarika” (Milko Lazarov)
Cambodia: “Tenement” (Inrasothythep Neth and Sokyou Chea)
Canada: “The Things You Kill” (Alireza Khatami)
Chile: “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo” (Diego Céspedes)
Colombia: “A Poet” (Simón Mesa Soto)
Costa Rica: “The Altar Boy, the Priest and the Gardener” (Juan Manuel Fernández)
Croatia: “Fiume o morte!” (Igor Bezinović)
Czech Republic: “I’m Not Everything I Want to Be” (Klára Tasovská)
Denmark: “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” (David Borenstein)
Dominican Republic: “Pepe” (Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias)
Ecuador: “Chuzalongo” (Diego Ortuño)
Egypt: “Happy Birthday” (Sarah Goher)
Estonia: “Rolling Papers” (Meel Paliale)
Finland: “100 Litres of Gold” (Teemu Nikki)
France: “It Was Just an Accident” (Jafar Panahi)
Georgia: “Panopticon” (George Sikharulidze)
Germany: “Sound of Falling” (Mascha Schilinski)
Hungary: “Orphan” (László Nemes)
Iceland: “The Love That Remains” (Hlynur Pálmason)
India: “Homebound” (Neeraj Ghaywan)
Indonesia: “Sore: Wife from the Future” (Yandy Laurens)
Iran: “Cause of Death: Unknown” (Ali Zarnegar)
Iraq: “The President’s Cake” (Hasan Hadi)
Ireland: “Sanatorium” (Gar O’Rourke)
Israel: “The Sea” (Shai Carmeli-Pollak)
Japan: “Kokuho” (Lee Sang-il)
Jordan: “All That’s Left of You” (Cherien Dabis)
Kyrgyzstan: “Black Red Yellow” (Aktan Arym Kubat)
Latvia: “Dog of God” (Lauris Ābele and Raitis Ābele)
Lithuania: “Southern Chronicles” (Ignas Miškinis)
Montenegro: “The Tower of Strength” (Nikola Vukčević)
Morocco: “Calle Málaga” (Maryam Touzani)
Nepal: “Anjila” (Milan Chams)
Netherlands: “Reedland” (Sven Bresser)
North Macedonia: “The Tale of Silyan” (Tamara Kotevska)
Norway: “Sentimental Value” (Joachim Trier)
Palestine: “Palestine 36” (Annemarie Jacir)
Panama: “Beloved Tropic” (Ana Endara)
Papua New Guinea: “Papa Buka” (Bijukumar Damodaran)
Paraguay: “Under the Flags, the Sun” (Juanjo Pereira)
Peru: “Motherland” (Marco Panatonic)
Philippines: “Magellan” (Lav Diaz)
Poland: “Franz” (Agnieszka Holland)
Portugal: “Banzo” (Margarida Cardoso)
Romania: “Traffic” (Teodora Mihai)
Singapore: “Stranger Eyes” (Yeo Siew Hua)
Slovakia: “Father” (Tereza Nvotová)
Slovenia: “Little Trouble Girls” (Urška Djukić)
South Korea: “No Other Choice” (Park Chan-wook)
Spain: “Sirāt” (Óliver Laxe)
Sweden: “Eagles of the Republic” (Tarik Saleh)
Switzerland: “Late Shift” (Petra Volpe)
Taiwan: “Left-Handed Girl” (Shih-Ching Tsou)
Thailand: “A Useful Ghost” (Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke)
Tunisia: “The Voice of Hind Rajab” (Kaouther Ben Hania)
Turkey: “One of Those Days When Hemme Dies” (Murat Fıratoğlu)
Ukraine: “2000 Meters to Andriivka” (Mstyslav Chernov)
Uruguay: “Don’t You Let Me Go” (Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge)
