List of submissions to the 66th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

This is a list of submissions to the 66th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was created in 1956 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honour non-English-speaking films produced outside the United States. ^[1] The award is handed out annually, and is accepted by the winning film's director, although it is considered an award for the submitting country as a whole. ^[2] Countries are invited by the Academy to submit their best films for competition according to strict rules, with only one film being accepted from each country. ^[2]

For the 66th Academy Awards, thirty-five films were submitted in the category Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy had initially invited 57 countries to send their best films, and the submission deadline was set on November 22, 1993. ^[3] While the rules were basically unchanged, the applications for the 66th Academy Awards included a new form requesting information about the nationalities of the film's creative team, due to the controversy that had led to the disqualification of A Place in the World at the 65th Academy Awards. ^[4]

The bolded titles were the five nominated films, which came from Hong Kong, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. It was the first time that the majority of the nominees in this category came from outside Europe (it happened again in 1997, 2006, 2011 and 2018) and is the only time when there have been three Asian nominees. Vietnam made history by becoming the only Southeast Asian country ever to be nominated in this category (accurate as of 2013 ^[update] ). The prize was ultimately awarded to Spain for the romantic comedy, Belle Époque. ^[5]

Submissions

Submitting country	Film title used in nomination	Original title	Language(s)	Director(s)	Result
Argentina	Gatica, el mono		Spanish	Leonardo Favio	Not nominated [6]
Austria	Indien		German	Paul Harather	Not nominated
Belgium	Just Friends		Dutch, French	Marc-Henri Wajnberg	Not nominated [7]
Bulgaria	Canary Season	Сезонът на канарчетата	Bulgarian	Evgeni Mihailov	Not nominated
Canada	The Sex of the Stars	Le sexe des étoiles	French	Paule Baillargeon	Not nominated [8]
Chile	Johnny 100 Pesos	Johnny cien pesos	Spanish	Gustavo Graef Marino	Not nominated [9]
China	Country Teachers	凤凰琴	Mandarin	He Qun	Not nominated [10]
Croatia	Countess Dora	Kontesa Dora	Serbo-Croatian	Zvonimir Berković	Not nominated
Denmark	Black Harvest	Sort høst	Danish	Anders Refn	Not nominated
Finland	Ripa Hits the Skids	Ripa ruostuu	Finnish	Christian Lindblad	Not nominated
France	Germinal		French	Claude Berri	Not nominated [11]
Germany	Justiz		German	Hans W. Geißendörfer	Not nominated [12]
Hong Kong	Farewell My Concubine	霸王別姬	Mandarin	Chen Kaige	Nominated [11]
Hungary	We Never Die	Sose halunk meg	Hungarian	Róbert Koltai	Not nominated
Iceland	The Sacred Mound	Hin helgu vé	Icelandic	Hrafn Gunnlaugsson	Not nominated [13]
India	Rudaali	रुदाली	Hindi	Kalpana Lajmi	Not nominated [14] [15]
Israel	Revenge of Itzik Finkelstein	נקמתו של איציק פינקלשטיין	Hebrew	Enrique Rottenberg	Not nominated
Italy	The Great Pumpkin	Il grande cocomero	Italian	Francesca Archibugi	Not nominated [16]
Japan	Madadayo	まあだだよ	Japanese	Akira Kurosawa	Not nominated [11]
Mexico	Cronos		Spanish, English	Guillermo del Toro	Not nominated [11]
Netherlands	Little Blond Death	De Kleine blonde dood	Dutch	Jean van de Velde	Not nominated [17]
Norway	The Telegraphist	Telegrafisten	Norwegian	Erik Gustavson	Not nominated [18]
Peru	Report on Death	Reportaje a la muerte	Spanish	Danny Gavidia	Not nominated [19]
Poland	Squadron	Szwadron	Polish	Juliusz Machulski	Not nominated [20]
Portugal	Abraham's Valley	Vale Abraão	Portuguese	Manoel de Oliveira	Not nominated
Romania	The Conjugal Bed	Patul conjugal	Romanian	Mircea Daneliuc	Not nominated
Slovakia	Everything I Like	Všetko čo mám rád	Slovak	Martin Šulík	Not nominated [11]
Slovenia	When I Close My Eyes	Ko zaprem oči	Slovene	Franci Slak	Not nominated [11]
Spain	Belle Époque	Belle Époque	Spanish	Fernando Trueba	Won Academy Award [11]
Sweden	The Slingshot	Kådisbellan	Swedish	Åke Sandgren	Not nominated [11]
Switzerland	The Diary of Lady M	Le journal de Lady M	French	Alain Tanner	Not nominated
Taiwan	The Wedding Banquet	喜宴	Mandarin, English	Ang Lee	Nominated [11]
Turkey	The Blue Exile	Mavi Sürgün	Turkish	Erden Kıral	Not nominated
United Kingdom	Hedd Wyn		Welsh, English	Paul Turner	Nominated [11]
Vietnam	The Scent of Green Papaya	Mùi đu đủ xanh	Vietnamese	Tran Anh Hung	Nominated [11]

References

1. "History of the Academy Awards 2 - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". 2008-06-22. Archived from the original on 2008-06-22. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
2. "Rule 14 | 81st Academy Awards Rules | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". 2008-08-09. Archived from the original on 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
3. "Oscar Legacy: Academy Awards Ceremonies from 1990–1999". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 2009-03-02. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
4. Marx, Andy (23 August 1993). "AMPAS spells out regs in foreign-lingo invites". Variety . Retrieved 2008-09-03.
5. "The 66th Academy Awards (1994) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
6. Ares, Carlos (28 January 1994). "El filme argentino Gatica, el mono se retira de los Oscar". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2009-06-12.
7. "Just Friends". Official website of Michel Herr. Archived from the original on October 17, 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
8. "Monique Proulx" (in French). Éditions du Boréal (fr) . Retrieved 2009-06-12.
9. "Biografía director: Gustavo Graef-Marino" (in Spanish). Canal 13. Archived from the original on 2009-06-03. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
10. Hornaday, Ann (5 December 1993). "For Foreign Films, the Rules For an Oscar Are Set in Sand". The New York Times . Retrieved 2009-06-12.
11. Frook, John Evan (30 November 1993). "Acad inks Cates, unveils foreign-language entries". Variety . Retrieved 25 August 2008.
12. "Best Features". German Films. Archived from the original on 2007-11-30. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
13. European Film Academy. "CV of Hrafn Gunnlaugsson" (DOC). Hrafn Gunnlaugsson Homepage. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
14. "Oscar Wild". MiD DAY. 2006-09-10. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
15. "India's Oscar Failures". NDTV. Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
16. "Il grande cocomero corre per l'Oscar". la Repubblica (in Italian): 41. 5 November 1993. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
17. Sandra Brennan (2012). "De Kleine Blonde Dood (1994)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
18. "Weekend". Norwegian Films 1999. Norwegian Film Institute (no). Archived from the original on 2010-09-05. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
19. "Reportaje a la muerte" (in Spanish). Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (es). Archived from the original on 2008-02-25. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
20. "Squadron". Zebra Film Studio (pl) . Retrieved 2009-06-12.