Salt of this Sea is a 2008 Palestinian film directed by Annemarie Jacir and was an Official Selection of the Cannes International Film Festival in 2008. It is Palestine's submission to the 81st Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film stars Palestinian-American poet Suheir Hammad as Soraya, an American-born Palestinian woman, who heads to Israel and Palestine on a quest to reclaim her family's home and money that were taken during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. A young Saleh Bakri also stars in the film in his first role in an Arab film.
Ciro Guerra is a Colombian film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his 2015 film Embrace of the Serpent, the film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards.
Omar is a 2013 Palestinian drama film directed by Hany Abu-Assad. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize. It was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards. It won Best Feature Film at the 2013 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The film was screened at the United Nations in New York on 1 May 2014.
Alice Winocour is a French screenwriter and director.
Run is a 2014 French-Ivorian drama film directed by Philippe Lacôte. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The fictionalized account of the 2011 post-election upheaval in the Ivory Coast that killed 3000 people was first film from that country selected for Cannes.
Xenia is a 2014 drama film directed by Panos H. Koutras. It was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, and in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. It was the Greek entry for the Best Foreign Language Film award at the 88th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. Xenia has won six awards from the Hellenic Film Academy. At the award ceremony, Koutras refused to receive two of them until the law on granting Greek citizenship to second-generation immigrants is changed.
Arabian Nights is a 2015 internationally co-produced three-part drama film directed by Miguel Gomes and based on the One Thousand and One Nights, comprising Volume 1: The Restless One, Volume 2: The Desolate One and Volume 3: The Enchanted One. It was screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The film was also selected to be shown in the Wavelengths section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.
Son of Saul is a 2015 Hungarian historical drama film directed by László Nemes, in his feature directorial debut, and co-written by Nemes and Clara Royer. It is set in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, and follows a day-and-a-half in the life of Saul Ausländer, a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando.
Rams is a 2015 Icelandic drama film written and directed by Grímur Hákonarson. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Prix Un Certain Regard. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It was selected as the Icelandic entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but it was not nominated. In 2016, online newspaper Kjarninn voted it the second-greatest Icelandic film of all time.
The High Sun is a 2015 Croatian drama film directed by Dalibor Matanić. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival winning the Jury Prize. It is the first Croatian film to be screened at Cannes since the country's independence in 1991. The film was selected as the Croatian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.
Yared Zeleke is an Ethiopian film director from Addis Ababa. He has an M.F.A. in Writing and Directing from New York University. His first feature film, Lamb, was screened at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard. It is the first film from Ethiopia to have been officially selected in the festival's 68-year history.
Baba Joon is a 2015 Israeli drama film directed by Yuval Delshad. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It won the award for Best Film at the 2015 Ophir Awards and became Israel's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.
Stranger is a 2015 Kazakhstani drama film written and directed by Ermek Tursunov. The film was selected as the Kazakhstani entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but it was not nominated. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.
Goat is a 2015 Slovak-Czech drama film directed by Ivan Ostrochovský who co-wrote with Marek Lescák. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was selected as the Slovak entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.
The Paradise Suite is a 2015 Dutch drama film directed by Joost van Ginkel. It was selected as the Dutch entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. It was screened in the Discovery section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It also won three Golden Calves for Best Film, Best Actor (Sawadogo) and Best Screenplay.
Deniz Gamze Ergüven is a Turkish-French film director best known for her debut feature film Mustang.
The Family is a 2017 Venezuelan drama film directed by Gustavo Rondón Córdova. It was screened in the International Critics' Week section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. It was selected as the Venezuelan entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
Sew the Winter to My Skin is a 2018 South African action film directed by Jahmil X.T. Qubeka. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. It was selected as the South African entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but was ultimately not nominated.
