The following is a list of foreign-language films that have won anAcademy Award.
TheAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has givenAcademy Awards to foreign language films since 1945. The Academy defines a foreign language film as afeature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. Films that meet these criteria are eligible for theAcademy Award for Best International Feature Film. They can be nominated for awards in categories other than Best International Feature Film provided that they have been commercially released inLos Angeles County and comply with the special rules governing those categories. In addition, foreign-language films produced in the United States are not eligible for Best International Feature Film, but are eligible for awards in other categories.[1]
As of 2023, 27 foreign language films have won Academy Awards outside the Best International Feature Film category. The foreign language films with the most awards areSweden'sFanny and Alexander,Taiwan'sCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,South Korea’sParasite, andGermany’sAll Quiet on the Western Front with four awards each, including the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.[2]Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon andRoma received ten Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, the highest number of nominations ever garnered for a foreign language film.[3][2][4]
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.[5] The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote viasecret ballot to determine the five nominees for the award.[1] Before the competitive award was created in 1956, the Board of Governors of the Academy voted on a film every year that was considered the best foreign language film released in the United States, and there were no submissions. These films were recipients ofAcademy Honorary Awards.[6]
Films that are eligible for the Best International Feature Film category are able to compete for other Academy Awards if they had been commercially released inLos Angeles County and fulfill the requirements of the categories they are participating in.[1] Among the foreign language films that have won Academy Awards outside the Best Foreign Language Film category, six have won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film while two,Shoeshine[7] andGate of Hell have received an Academy Honorary Award.[8][9]Parasite is the only foreign film to win Best Picture so far althoughThe Artist was the first silent film in French production to win Best Picture, but it was not submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film due to it being ineligible.Roma won the award because it was a co-production of United States and Mexico.
| Year (Ceremony) | Film title used in nomination | Original title | Category | Winner(s) | Country | Language(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 (75th) | Spirited Away | 千と千尋の神隠し | Animated Feature | Hayao Miyazaki |  Japan | Japanese |
| 2005 (78th) | March of the Penguins | La Marche de l'empereur | Documentary Feature | Luc Jacquet |  France | French |
| 2023 (96th) | The Boy and the Heron | 君たちはどう生きるか | Animated Feature | Hayao Miyazaki | Japan | Japanese |
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