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

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Denys Arcand, director of The Barbarian Invasions (2003), the first Canadian film to receive the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. DenysArcand07TIFF.jpg
Denys Arcand, director of The Barbarian Invasions (2003), the first Canadian film to receive the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Canada has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film [nb 1] since 1971. The award is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. [3] It was not created until the 1956 Academy Awards, in which a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was created for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since. [4]

Contents

The process of choosing the submission is administered by Telefilm Canada.

As of 2021, seven Canadian films have been nominated, including one winner, for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Of these films, three have been directed by Denys Arcand: Jesus of Montreal , nominated at the 62nd Academy Awards; The Decline of the American Empire , nominated at the 59th Academy Awards; and its sequel, The Barbarian Invasions , which was the winner at the 76th Academy Awards. [5] Arcand's Days of Darkness was shortlisted for the Oscar, but was not nominated. The other four Canadian directors to have their films nominated are Deepa Mehta for Water at the 79th Academy Awards, [6] Denis Villeneuve for Incendies at the 83rd Academy Awards, [7] Philippe Falardeau for Monsieur Lazhar at the 84th Academy Awards, [8] and Kim Nguyen for War Witch at the 85th Academy Awards. [9]

Of the 47 films selected to date as Canada's submission to the Academy Awards, 18 of them have also won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Motion Picture.

Submissions

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1956. [4] The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via secret ballot to determine the five nominees for the award. [3] Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by Canada for review by the academy for the award by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony. With two exceptions (2001's Inuktitut Atanarjuat and 2005's Hindi Water), all submissions were Québécois films. All of these were in French, except for A Bullet in the Head which was spoken entirely in an invented language. [10] Other French-language submissions have featured a substantial amount of Inuktitut ( The Necessities of Life ), Lingala (War Witch), Yiddish ( Felix and Meira ), [11] and Mohawk and Algonquin ( Hochelaga, Land of Souls ). [12]

For the 93rd Academy Awards, Canada's original submission was Deepa Mehta's Funny Boy , but the film was disqualified in December 2020 for containing too much dialogue in English. [13]

Year
(Ceremony)
Film title used in nominationOriginal titleLanguage(s)DirectorResult
1971
(44th)
Mon oncle Antoine French Claude Jutra Not nominated
1972
(45th)
The True Nature of Bernadette La Vraie Nature de Bernadette Gilles Carle Not nominated
1975
(48th)
Orders Les Ordres Michel Brault Not nominated
1977
(50th)
J.A. Martin Photographer J.A. Martin photographe Jean Beaudin Not nominated
1979
(52nd)
A Scream from Silence Mourir à tue-tête Anne Claire Poirier Not nominated
1980
(53rd)
Good Riddance Les Bons débarras Francis Mankiewicz Not nominated
1981
(54th)
The Plouffe Family Les PlouffeFrench, English Gilles Carle Not nominated
1982
(55th)
Wild Flowers Les fleurs sauvagesFrench Jean Pierre Lefebvre Not nominated
1983
(56th)
The Tin Flute Bonheur d'occasion Claude Fournier Not nominated
1984
(57th)
Sonatine Micheline Lanctôt Not nominated
1985
(58th)
Jacques and November Jacques et novembre François Bouvier and Jean Beaudry Not nominated
1986
(59th)
The Decline of the American Empire Le Déclin de l'empire américainFrench, English Denys Arcand Nominated [14]
1987
(60th)
Night Zoo Un zoo la nuitFrench Jean-Claude Lauzon Not nominated
1988
(61st)
The Revolving Doors Les portes tournantes Francis Mankiewicz Not nominated
1989
(62nd)
Jesus of Montreal Jésus de MontréalFrench, English Denys Arcand Nominated [15]
1990
(63rd)
An Imaginary Tale [16] Une histoire inventéeFrench André Forcier Not nominated
1991
(64th)
A Bullet in the Head [17] Fictional language Attila Bertalan Not nominated
1992
(65th)
Léolo [18] French Jean-Claude Lauzon Not nominated
1993
(66th)
The Sex of the Stars [19] Le sexe des étoiles Paule Baillargeon Not nominated
1994
(67th)
My Friend Max Mon Amie Max Michel Brault Not nominated
1995
(68th)
The Confessional [20] Le Confessional Robert Lepage Not nominated
1996
(69th)
Not Me! [21] Sous-Sol Pierre Gang Not nominated
1997
(70th)
Cosmos [22] Jennifer Alleyn , Manon Briand ,
Marie-Julie Dallaire , Arto Paragamian ,
André Turpin , Denis Villeneuve
Not nominated
1998
(71st)
August 32nd on Earth [23] Un 32 Août sur TerreFrench, English Denis Villeneuve Not nominated
1999
(72nd)
Set Me Free [24] Emporte-moiFrench Léa Pool Not nominated
2000
(73rd)
Maelström [25] Denis Villeneuve Not nominated
2001
(74th)
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner [11] Atanarjuat Inuktitut Zacharias Kunuk Not nominated
2002
(75th)
Un crabe dans la tête [26] Un crabe dans la têteFrench André Turpin Not nominated
2003
(76th)
The Barbarian Invasions Les Invasions barbaresFrench, English Denys Arcand Won Academy Award [27]
2004
(77th)
Far Side of the Moon [28] La face cachée de la luneFrench Robert Lepage Not nominated
2005
(78th)
C.R.A.Z.Y. [29] Jean-Marc Vallée Not nominated
2006
(79th)
Water Hindi, English Deepa Mehta Nominated [6]
2007
(80th)
Days of Darkness L'Âge des ténèbresFrench Denys Arcand Made shortlist [30]
2008
(81st)
The Necessities of Life Ce qu'il faut pour vivre, InuujjutiksaqFrench, Inuktitut Benoît Pilon Made shortlist [31]
2009
(82nd)
I Killed My Mother [32] J'ai tué ma mèreFrench Xavier Dolan Not nominated
2010
(83rd)
Incendies [33] French, Arabic Denis Villeneuve Nominated [7]
2011
(84th)
Monsieur Lazhar [34] Philippe Falardeau Nominated [35]
2012
(85th)
War Witch [36] RebelleFrench, Lingala Kim Nguyen Nominated [37]
2013
(86th)
Gabrielle [38] French Louise Archambault Not nominated
2014
(87th)
Mommy [39] Xavier Dolan Not nominated
2015
(88th)
Felix and Meira [40] Félix et MeiraFrench, Yiddish, English Maxime Giroux Not nominated
2016
(89th)
It's Only the End of the World [41] Juste la fin du mondeFrench Xavier Dolan Made shortlist [42]
2017
(90th)
Hochelaga, Land of Souls [43] Hochelaga terre des âmesFrench, English, Mohawk, Algonquin François Girard Not nominated
2018
(91st)
Family First [44] Chien de gardeFrench Sophie Dupuis Not nominated
2019
(92nd)
Antigone [45] French, English, Arabic Sophie Deraspe Not nominated
2020
(93rd)
14 Days, 12 Nights [46] 14 jours, 12 nuitsFrench Jean-Philippe Duval Not nominated
2021
(94th)
Drunken Birds [47] Les Oiseaux ivresFrench, Spanish Ivan Grbovic Not nominated
2022
(95th)
Eternal Spring [48] 長春 Mandarin, English Jason Loftus Not nominated
2023
(96th)
Rojek [49] Kurdish, English, Arabic, French, German Zaynê Akyol Not nominated

See also

Notes

  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]

Related Research Articles

<i>War Witch</i> 2012 film

War Witch is a 2012 Canadian dramatic war film written and directed by Kim Nguyen and starring Rachel Mwanza, Alain Lino Mic Eli Bastien and Serge Kanyinda. It is about a child soldier forced into a civil war in Africa, and who is believed to be a witch. The film was primarily shot in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in French and Lingala.

<i>Felix and Meira</i> 2014 film

Felix and Meira is a 2014 Canadian drama film directed by Maxime Giroux, and starring Martin Dubreuil, Hadas Yaron, and Luzer Twersky. It is about an improbable affair between two Montreal residents - one a married woman from a devoutly Jewish family and community, and the other a single French Canadian man with his own family issues.

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