List of Brazilian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

Walter Salles' Central do Brasil was the last Brazilian film nominated in 1999 in this category.

Brazil has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film ^{[nb 1]} since 1960. The award is handed out annually by the United States-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature length motion picture produced outside the U.S. that contains primarily non-English language dialogue. ^[3] It was not created until the 1956 Academy Awards, in which a competitive Academy Award of Merit was created for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since. ^[4]

As of 2023, 52 Brazilian films have been submitted for the award. Four of these submissions resulted in nominations for the Best Foreign Language Film category, but none of them won. Orfeu Negro , a Portuguese language film shot in Brazil by French director Marcel Camus, won the award at the 1959 ceremony, but it was submitted by the French government and thus France was credited as the recipient of the award.

Statistics

Films directed by Carlos Diegues (also known as Cacá Diegues) have been chosen to represent Brazil at the Academy Awards seven times, more than any other director. He is followed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, which had four of his films selected. None of their films, however, managed to achieve an Oscar nomination.

Three films by Bruno Barreto were submitted, although his biggest success, Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands , the second highest-grossing film in the history of Brazilian cinema, was not chosen. Four Days in September (1997) got nominated in 1998.

Suzana Amaral's Hour of the Star (1987) became the first film directed by a woman to be submitted, only twenty-nine years later another film directed by a female filmmaker was selected to be submitted as the Brazilian's entry, Anna Muylaert 's The Second Mother (2015), with Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (2019), by Bárbara Paz, being the last.

Brazilian last nomination in the category was Central Station (1998), at the 71st Academy Awards, with Fernanda Montenegro being nominated in the Best Actress category that night. Even though City of God was selected as the Brazilian submission for the 75th Academy Awards, the film was famously snubbed, and subsequently nominated in the following ceremony, the 76th Academy Awards, for the Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing, categories.

Name	Number of submissions	Films
Carlos Diegues	7	Xica, Bye Bye Brazil, Subway to the Stars, Better Days Ahead, Tieta of Agreste, Orfeu and The Great Mystical Circus.
Nelson Pereira dos Santos	4	How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman, Ogum's Amulet, Tent of Miracles and Memoirs of Prison.
Bruno Barreto	3	The Story of Fausta, Four Days in September and Last Stop 174.
Walter Salles		Exposure, Central Station and Behind the Sun.

Submissions

Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by the Brazilian government for Academy Award consideration. The Brazilian nominee is selected annually by a committee assembled by the Ministry of Culture (formerly the Ministry of Education and Culture).

Year (Ceremony)	Film title used in nomination	Original title	Language(s)	Director(s)	Result
1960 (33rd)	Death Commands Brigandage	A Morte Comanda o Cangaço	Portuguese	Carlos Coimbra, Walter Guimarães Motta	Not nominated
1962 (34th)	Keeper of Promises [a]	O Pagador de Promessas		Anselmo Duarte	Nominated [5]
1964 (37th)	Black God, White Devil	Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol		Glauber Rocha	Not nominated
1965 (38th)	São Paulo, Incorporated	São Paulo, Sociedade Anônima		Luis Sérgio Person	Not nominated
1967 (40th)	Case of the Naves Brothers	O Caso dos Irmãos Naves			Not nominated
1968 (41st)	The Amorous Ones	As Amorosas		Walter Hugo Khouri	Not nominated
1969 (42nd)	Antonio das Mortes	O Dragão da Maldade contra o Santo Guerreiro		Glauber Rocha	Not nominated
1970 (43rd)	Mortal Sin	Pecado Mortal		Miguel Faria Jr.	Not nominated
1971 (44th)	Pra Quem Fica, Tchau			Reginaldo Faria	Not nominated
1972 (45th)	How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman	Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês	Portuguese, French, Tupi	Nelson Pereira dos Santos	Not nominated
1973 (46th)	João and the Knife	A Faca e o Rio	Portuguese	George Sluizer	Not nominated
1974 (47th)	The Scarecrow's Night	A Noite do Espantalho		Sérgio Ricardo	Not nominated
1975 (48th)	The Amulet of Ogum	O Amuleto de Ogum		Nelson Pereira dos Santos	Not nominated
1976 (49th)	Xica	Xica da Silva		Carlos Diegues	Not nominated
1977 (50th)	Tent of Miracles	Tenda dos Milagres		Nelson Pereira dos Santos	Not nominated
1978 (51st)	The Lyre of Delight	A Lira do Delírio		Walter Lima Jr.	Not nominated
1980 (53rd)	Bye Bye Brazil	Bye Bye Brasil		Carlos Diegues	Not nominated
1981 (54th)	Pixote	Pixote, a Lei do Mais Fraco		Héctor Babenco	Disqualified [6]
1984 (57th)	Memoirs of Prison	Memórias do Cárcere		Nelson Pereira dos Santos	Not nominated
1986 (59th)	Hour of the Star	A Hora da Estrela		Suzana Amaral	Not nominated
1987 (60th)	Subway to the Stars	Um Trem para as Estrelas		Carlos Diegues	Not nominated
1988 (61st)	The Story of Fausta	Romance da Empregada		Bruno Barreto	Not nominated
1989 (62nd)	Better Days Ahead	Dias Melhores Virão		Carlos Diegues	Not nominated
1991 (64th)	Exposure [7]	A Grande Arte	Portuguese, English, Spanish	Walter Salles	Not nominated
1995 (68th)	O Quatrilho		Portuguese	Fábio Barreto	Nominated [8]
1996 (69th)	Tieta of Agreste	Tieta do Agreste		Carlos Diegues	Not nominated
1997 (70th)	Four Days in September	O Que É Isso, Companheiro?		Bruno Barreto	Nominated [9]
1998 (71st)	Central Station [b]	Central do Brasil		Walter Salles	Nominated [10]
1999 (72nd)	Orfeu			Carlos Diegues	Not nominated
2000 (73rd)	Me, You, Them	Eu, Tu, Eles		Andrucha Waddington	Not nominated
2001 (74th)	Behind the Sun	Abril Despedaçado		Walter Salles	Not nominated
2002 (75th)	City of God [c]	Cidade de Deus		Fernando Meirelles	Not nominated
2003 (76th)	Carandiru			Héctor Babenco	Not nominated
2004 (77th)	Olga			Jayme Monjardim	Not nominated
2005 (78th)	Two Sons of Francisco	Dois Filhos de Francisco		Breno Silveira	Not nominated
2006 (79th)	Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures	Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus	German, Portuguese	Marcelo Gomes	Not nominated
2007 (80th)	The Year My Parents Went On Vacation	O Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias	Portuguese, Yiddish, Hebrew	Cao Hamburger	Made shortlist [11]
2008 (81st)	Last Stop 174	Última Parada 174	Portuguese	Bruno Barreto	Not nominated
2009 (82nd)	Time of Fear	Salve Geral		Sérgio Rezende	Not nominated
2010 (83rd)	Lula, Son of Brazil [12]	Lula, o Filho do Brasil		Fábio Barreto	Not nominated
2011 (84th)	Elite Squad: The Enemy Within [13]	Tropa de Elite 2: o Inimigo Agora É Outro		José Padilha	Not nominated
2012 (85th)	The Clown [14]	O Palhaço		Selton Mello	Not nominated
2013 (86th)	Neighbouring Sounds [15]	O Som ao Redor		Kleber Mendonça Filho	Not nominated
2014 (87th)	The Way He Looks [16]	Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho		Daniel Ribeiro	Not nominated
2015 (88th)	The Second Mother [17]	Que Horas Ela Volta?		Anna Muylaert	Not nominated
2016 (89th)	Little Secret [18] [19]	Pequeno Segredo	Portuguese, English	David Schurmann	Not nominated
2017 (90th)	Bingo: The King of the Mornings [20]	Bingo: O Rei das Manhãs	Portuguese	Daniel Rezende	Not nominated
2018 (91st)	The Great Mystical Circus [21]	O Grande Circo Místico		Carlos Diegues	Not nominated
2019 (92nd)	The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão [22]	A Vida Invisível de Eurídice Gusmão		Karim Aïnouz	Not nominated
2020 (93rd)	Babenco: Tell Me When I Die [23]	Babenco: Alguém Tem que Ouvir o Coração e Dizer Parou		Bárbara Paz	Not nominated
2021 (94th)	Private Desert [24]	Deserto Particular		Aly Muritiba	Not nominated
2022 (95th)	Mars One [25]	Marte Um		Gabriel Martins	Not nominated
2023 (96th)	Pictures of Ghosts [26]	Retratos Fantasmas		Kleber Mendonça Filho	Not nominated

See also

• List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Academy Awards nominations for Brazilian films
• Cinema of Brazil

Notes

^  a: Also known as The Given Word and The Promise in the English-speaking market.

^  b: Central do Brasil was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress . The film's lead actress, Fernanda Montenegro , holds the title as the only Brazilian nominated to an acting category. ^[27]

^  c: Cidade de Deus was submitted for the 75th Academy Awards , but it was not nominated for the Best Foreign Language award. The film, however, was eventually nominated for four awards— Best Director , Best Cinematography , Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing —at the following year . It shares the title with Kiss of the Spider Woman as the Brazilian film with the highest number of nominations. All of Cidade de Deus' nominees were Brazilians, while Hector Babenco was the only Brazilian nominee for Kiss of the Spider Woman, an American co-production. ^[27]

1. The category was previously named the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but this was changed to the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in April 2019, after the Academy deemed the word "Foreign" to be outdated. ^{[1] [2]}

References

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7. Mendes, Letícia (10 September 2015). "Anna Muylaert é a 1ª mulher em 30 anos a representar o Brasil no Oscar" (in Portuguese). G1. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
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12. ""Lula, O Filho do Brasil" vai representar o Brasil no Oscar 2011". ultimosegundo. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
13. "63 Countries Vie for 2011 Foreign Language Film Oscar". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 18 May 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
14. Cajueiro, Marcelo (21 September 2012). "Brazil sends in 'Clown' to entertain Oscar". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
15. "Brazil picks "O Som Ao Redor" as Oscars entry". Global Post. Retrieved 21 September 2013.
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17. "Brazil Names Foreign Oscar Submission". IndieWire. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
18. Giannini, Alessandro (12 September 2016). "'Pequeno segredo' é o selecionado brasileiro para disputar uma vaga no Oscar(Portuguese)". O Globo . Archived from the original on 6 October 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
19. Ortega, Rodrigo (12 September 2016). "Brasil indica 'Pequeno segredo' para tentar Oscar; 'Aquarius' fica de fora". G1. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
20. Mango, Agustin (19 September 2017). "Oscars: Brazil Selects 'Bingo - The King of the Mornings' for Foreign-Language Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
21. Mango, Agustin (18 September 2018). "Oscars: Brazil Selects 'The Great Mystical Circus' for Foreign-Language Category". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 18 September 2018.
22. Mango, Agustin (27 August 2019). "Oscars: Brazil Selects 'The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao' for International Feature Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
23. "Filme de Bárbara Paz é selecionado para representar o Brasil no Oscar 2021". Noticias da tv. 18 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
24. "'Deserto particular' é indicado pelo Brasil para disputar vaga no Oscar 2022 ('Private Desert' is nominated by Brazil to compete for the Oscar 2022)". 15 October 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
25. "'Marte Um' é indicado pelo Brasil para disputar vaga no Oscar 2023 ('Mars One' is nominated by Brazil to compete for the Oscar 2023)". 5 September 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
26. "Oscars 2024: Indonesia submits 'Autobiography', Brazil enters 'Picture Of Ghosts'". 13 September 2023. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
27. "Academy Awards Database - List of films nominated for the Academy Awards whose country of origin is Brazil". Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2009.