List of South African submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

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South Africa has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film [nb 1] since 1989. 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

Two South African films have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film: Darrell Roodt's Yesterday and Gavin Hood's Tsotsi . [5] [6] Hood's Tsotsi won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards, being the only South African film to do so. [6]

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 South Africa for review by the Academy for the award by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony.

Year
(Ceremony)		Film titleLanguage(s)DirectorResult
1989
(62nd) 		Mapantsula [7] [8] Zulu, Afrikaans, Sesotho, English Oliver Schmitz Not nominated
1997
(70th) 		Paljas Afrikaans Katinka Heyns Not nominated
2004
(77th) 		Yesterday Zulu Darrell Roodt Nominated
2005
(78th) 		Tsotsi Sesotho, Tswana, Afrikaans, English Gavin Hood Won Academy Award
2008
(81st) 		Jerusalema Sesotho, English, Tsotsitaal Ralph Ziman Not nominated
2009
(82nd) 		White Wedding Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English Jann Turner Not nominated
2010
(83rd) 		Life, Above All Northern Sotho Oliver Schmitz Made shortlist [9]
2011
(84th) 		Beauty [10] Afrikaans Oliver Hermanus Not nominated
2012
(85th) 		Little One [11] Zulu Darrell Roodt Not nominated
2013
(86th) 		Four Corners [12] Afrikaans Ian Gabriel Not nominated
2014
(87th) 		Elelwani [13] Venda Ntshavheni wa Luruli Not nominated
2015
(88th) 		The Two of Us [14] Zulu Ernest Nkosi Not nominated
2016
(89th) 		Call Me Thief [15] Afrikaans Daryne Joshua Not nominated
2017
(90th) 		The Wound [16] Xhosa John Trengove Made shortlist [17]
2018
(91st) 		Sew the Winter to My Skin [18] Afrikaans, Xhosa, English Jahmil X.T. Qubeka Not nominated
2019
(92nd) 		Knuckle City [19] Xhosa Jahmil X.T. Qubeka Not nominated
2020
(93rd) 		Toorbos [20] Afrikaans Rene van Rooyen Not nominated
2021
(94th) 		Barakat [21] Afrikaans, English Amy Jephta Not nominated
2023
(96th) 		Music Is My Life – Dr. Joseph Shabalala
and Ladysmith Black Mambazo [22] 		Zulu, English Mbele Mpumi 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]

References

  1. ↑ "Academy announces rules for 92nd Oscars". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  2. ↑ "Academy Announces Rule Changes For 92nd Oscars". Forbes. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  3. 1 2 "Rule Thirteen: Special Rules for the Foreign Language Film Award". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  4. 1 2 "History of the Academy Awards - Page 2". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 22 June 2008. Retrieved 21 August 2008.
  5. ↑ "Oscars 2005: The Nominees". BBC. 25 January 2005. Retrieved 22 August 2008.
  6. 1 2 Zomorodi, Manoush (6 March 2006). "Tsotsi takes foreign film Oscar". BBC . Retrieved 22 August 2008.
  7. ↑ Mapantsula appeared on the official Oscar press release in 1989, but Paljas was listed as South Africa's first-ever submission in 1997. It appears likely that Mapantsula was not screened. http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/chronology/special-chrono/society/film.htm Archived 6 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ "Forty-Four Countries Vie for Oscar Nomination". 26 November 1997.
  9. ↑ "9 Foreign Language Films Continue to Oscar Race". oscars.org. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
  10. ↑ "63 Countries Vie for 2011 Foreign Language Film Oscar". oscars.org. Archived from the original on 18 May 2012. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  11. ↑ Vourlias, Christopher (28 September 2012). "S. Africa picks 'Little One' for Oscar nom". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  12. ↑ "South Africa Picks 'Four Corners' for Oscar". Variety. 20 September 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  13. ↑ "Elelwani, the first Tshivenda film selected as South Africa's Oscars entry". National Film and Video Foundation. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  14. ↑ Vourlias, Christopher (22 September 2015). "South Africa Sets Drama for Foreign-language Oscar Race". Variety. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  15. ↑ "'Call Me Thief' Is South Africa's 2017 Foreign Language Film Academy Award Submission". Shadow and Act. 27 September 2016. Archived from the original on 2 October 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  16. ↑ Vourlias, Christopher (1 October 2017). "South Africa Enters 'The Wound' in Foreign-Language Oscar Race". Variety. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  17. ↑ Pond, Steve (14 December 2017). "Oscars Foreign Language Shortlist Includes 'The Square,' 'A Fantastic Woman'". The Wrap . Retrieved 14 December 2017.
  18. ↑ "South Africa's official selection to the 91st Annual Academy Awards (Oscars) Best Foreign Language Film". National Film and Video Foundation. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  19. ↑ "Oscars: South Africa Selects 'Knuckle City' for International Feature Film Category". The Hollywood Reporter. 10 September 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  20. ↑ "Toorbos to be SA's entry for the 93rd Academy Awards". Channel24. 17 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  21. ↑ Szalai, Georg (8 November 2021). "Oscars: South Africa Picks 'Barakat' for International Feature Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  22. ↑ "Music is My Life - Joseph Shabalala and Ladysmith Black Mambazo has been selected for the official South African submission for the 96th Annual Academy Awards (Oscars)". Facebook page of the National Film and Video Foundation. 16 October 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
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