Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to be announced on December 17, with the final five nominees announced on January 17, 2025.
The 2024 awards saw 88 submissions with the five nominated films comprising Japan’s Perfect Days; Italy’s Io Capitano; Spain’s Society Of The Snow; Germany’s The Teachers’ Lounge and the eventual winner The Zone Of Interest from the UK.
Latest submissions
Croatia: Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day (Ivona Juka)
Set in the 1950s, the country’s 34th entry follows four young filmmakers in Yugoslavia who have their film censored for featuring scenes depicting dissatisfaction with the army. They are then offered the chance for “rehabilitation” by making propaganda films instead. The film’s working title was Strangers In the Night and received a €5,000 prize at Cologne’s European Work In Progress awards. It is produced by Ivona’s sister Anita Juka at 4Film with support from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe, the Adris Foundation, Telefilm Canada, Ontario Creates, the Ministry of Culture – Cyprus Film Department, and the Sarajevo and Tuzla Canton Film Funds. Yet to secure a nomination, Croatia’s first submission in 1991 was disqualified as the country was still in the process of receiving international recognition. International sales: TBC
Armenia: Yasha And Leonid Brezhnev (Edgar Baghdasaryan)
This comedy drama follows a retired Armenian man who is reluctant to accept to end of the USSR and imagines political conversations with former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and other prominent communist figures. The film premiered at Yerevan’s Golden Apricot International Film Festival and won five prizes at Armenia’s Anahit National Film Awards, including best director for Baghdasaryan and best actor for Mais Sarkisyan. It marks Baghdasaryan’s second time in the Oscar race after his historical drama Lengthy Night was submitted in 2019. Armenia made the shortlist for the first time last year with Michael A Goorjian’s Amerikatsi. This is the country’s 14th entry to the Oscars, though it has been disqualified twice, in 1991 and 2016, for not meeting the submission criteria. International sales: TBC
Morocco: Everybody Loves Touda (Nabil Ayouch)
French-Moroccan filmmaker Ayouch is representing his country at the Oscars for the sixth time with this musically-driven drama, which premiered at Cannes. The story centres on a poet and singer raising her deaf-mute son in a small village, who dreams of being a sheikha (a traditional Moroccan performer) in Casablanca. Ayouch co-wrote the script with his wife and actress-filmmaker Maryam Touzani, whose The Blue Caftan, produced by Ayouch, made the international feature Oscars shortlist for Morocco in 2023. Of the 19 films submitted by the country since 1977, none have received a nomination but have made it to the shortlist three times: Roschdy Zem’s Omar Killed Me in 2012; The Blue Caftan in 2023; and Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother Of All Lies in 2024. International sales: mk2 Films
AMERICAS
Canada: Universal Language (Matthew Rankin)
Read the full article here. International sales: Best Friend Forever
Chile: In Her Place (Maite Alberdi)
The filmmaker will hope to continue her Oscar success, having been nominated twice before in best documentary The Mole Agent in 2020 and The Eternal Memory in 2024 - the former also earning her spot on the international shortlist. Making her fiction debut, In Her Place is a crime drama based on the true story of a famous writer who is put on trial for killing her lover. It will have its world premiere in competition at San Sebastian before landing on Netflix. It is produced by Pablo Larraín, who was nominated for Chile in 2012 with No, and his brother Juan de Dios Larraín at Fabula. Elisa Zulueta and Francisca Lewin lead the cast and are joined by Marcial Tagle, Gabriel Urzúa, Pablo Macaya. Chile won the Oscar in 2017 with Sebastián Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman. International sales: Netflix
Uruguay: The Door Is There (Juan Ponce de Leon, Facundo Ponce de Leon)
Marking the county’s 23rd submission is a documentary surrounding a friendship between two men as one of them helps the other to die. The film premiered in San Sebastian’s Made In Spain strand last year and went on to screen at Malaga Film Festival. Mueca Films produces with Spain’s A Contracorriente Films. Uruguay was nominated in 1992 with Adolfo Aristarain’s A Place In The World though it was subsequently rescinded after an investigation uncovered that the production was almost entirely Argentinian. International sales: TBC
ASIA-PACIFIC
Cambodia: Meeting With Pol Pot (Rithy Panh)
This is the Cambodian-French director’s fourth submission to the Oscars including a nomination in 2013 for The Missing Picture. The film is inspired by journalist Elizabeth Becker’s book When The War Was Over and follows three French journalists who were invited to interview Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot in 1978. The film first showed at Cannes in Premiere and also screened in competition at Mediterrane festival. The cast includes Grégoire Colin, Irene Jacob and Cyril Gueï, while production companies are CDP and Anupheap Production. Cambodia made the shortlist last year with Davy Chou’s Return To Seoul. International sales: Playtime
Japan: Cloud (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
This thriller follows a young man who resells goods online, who finds himself at the centre of a series of mysterious events that put his life at risk. It was selected to premiere out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, where filmmaker Kurosawa previously won the Silver Lion for best director with Wife Of A Spy in 2020. His past accolades also include the Cannes Un Certain Regard jury prize for Tokyo Sonata (2008) and the Un Certain Regard award for best director for Journey To The Shore (2015). Cloud is produced by Nikkatsu Corporation and Tokyo Theatres Company, and has been acquired for France, Spain, Italy and Taiwan. Japan received an Oscar nomination in this category last year with Wim Wenders Perfect Days and won the Academy Award in 2022 with Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car. Yojiro Takita’s Departures previously won the Oscar for Japan in 2008. International sales: Nikkatsu
Kyrgyzstan: Heaven Is Beneath Mother’s Feet (Ruslan Akun)
After its submission last year was ruled to be ineligible, Kyrgyzstan has ensured this year’s entry qualifies for the category with a film that opened in March, within the Academy’s release window. Locally titled Beyish Enenin Tamanynda, the drama centres on a 35-year-old man whose mental development stopped when he was eight. Wanting to ensure his elderly mother can go to heaven, he sets off on foot with her on a journey to Mecca. It marks the 17th entry by the country since 1998, which has yet to make the shortlist. International sales: TBC
South Korea: 12.12: The Day (Kim Sung-soo)
Based on true events, this historical drama takes place on December 12, 1979 when military commander Chun Doo-hwan staged a coup d’etat to seize power less than two months after long-time dictator Park Chung-hee’s assassination. The date is considered a pivotal one in modern Korean history, opening another era of dictatorship. The film was released in November 2023 and went on to become the year’s biggest title at the local box office, eventually taking $95.7m from 13.1 million admissions (25% of South Korea’s entire population). South Korea won the Oscar in 2020 with Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, which also picked up best picture, and has also made the shortlist twice – in 2018 for Lee Chang-dong’s Burning and last year with Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave. International sales: Plus M Entertainment
Taiwan: Old Fox (Hsiao Ya-Chuan)
This family drama is set in the late 1980s and follows an 11-year-old boy who befriends his landlord, nicknamed Old Fox, and learns from him how to survive in a rapidly changing world. The cast is led by child star Bai Run-Yin (Dear Tenant) and veteran actor Akio Chen as well as Liu Kuan-Ting (A Sun). Executive producer is Cannes award-winner Hou Hsiao-Hsien (The Assassin). The film premiered at Tokyo International Film Festival and went on to win four prizes at Taiwan’s coveted Golden Horse Awards including best director and best supporting actor for Chen. Taiwan last made the shortlist in 2020 with Chung Mong-Hong’s family drama A Sun. Prior to that, the previous shortlisted entry was Wei Te-sheng’s Warriors Of The Rainbow: Seediq Bale in 2012. The last to achieve a nomination was Ang Lee’s martial-arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which went on to win the award and three further Oscars in 2001. International sales: Eric Chou, Tomorrow Together Capital
EUROPE
Austria: The Devil’s Bath (Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz)
Read the full article here. International sales: Playtime
Bulgaria: Triump (Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov)
Borat and The Apprentice star Maria Bakalova leads the cast of this black comedy inspired by a real group of psychics who helped Bulgarian army officers locate an alien artifact in the 1990s. The film makes its world premiere at Toronto Platform and completes the directing duo’s trilogy of films inspired by bizarre news stories from their homeland, following 2017’s Glory and 2020’s The Lesson - both of which also represented Bulgaria at the Oscars. Other cast include Julian Kostov and Julian Vergov. Bakalova also produces the feature alongside the directors’ Abraxas Film and Greece’s Graal Films. The country made the shortlist just once, in 2009 with The World Is Big And Salvation Lurks Around The Corner. International sales: Bankside
Estonia: 8 Views Of Lake Biwa (Marko Raat)
Inspired by German writer Max Dauthendy’s 1911 book of the same name, 8 Views Of Lake Biwa centres on two girls by an Estonian lake, as their isolated fishing village attempts to come to terms with a recent disaster. Stalwart Estonian producers Ivo Felt and Dora Nedeczky of Allfilm produced the title with Mark Lwoff and Misha Jaari of Finland’s Bufo, with a world premiere in the Harbour strand at International Film Festival Rotterdam in January followed by a local release in March. Raat has been making features since 2002, with this his ninth effort and first time representing his country for the Oscars. The closest Estonia has come to Oscar glory from 21 previous entries was Zaza Urushadze’s Tangerines, nominated in 2015; while Tanel Toom’s Truth And Justice made the shortlist for the 2020 awards. International sales: TBC
Germany: The Seed Of The Sacred Fig (Mohammad Rasoulof)
Read the full article here. International sales: Films Boutique
Ireland: Kneecap (Rich Peppiatt)
Read the full article here. International sales: Charades
Latvia: Flow (Gints Zilbalodis)
This animated feature first premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard before going on to screen at Annecy where it won four prizes including the Competition jury and audience award. The story centres around a cat who teams up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog after a flood destroys his home. Zilbalodis produced Flow alongside co-writer Matiss Kaza as well as Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman. The film, which Sideshow and Janus Films have North American rights on, is also screening at Toronto. It marks Latvia’s 16th submission with the country yet to score a nomination. International sales: Charades
Lithuania: Drowning Dry (Laurynas Bareisa)
The aftermath of a near-tragic accident at a family weekend getaway is explored in this drama, which won filmmaker Bareisa best director at Locarno Film Festival in August. Bareisa previously won Venice’s Orizzonti award for best film with his debut feature Pilgrims in 2021, which was also submitted to the Oscars. He also serves as cinematographer on Drowning Dry, which is a co-production between Lithuania’s Afterschool Productions and Latvia’s Trickster Pictures. Lithuania made its first Oscar entry for the 2007 awards but has yet to receive a nomination in the category. International sales: Alpha Violet
Romania: Three Kilometers To The End Of The World (Emanuel Parvu)
Winner of this year’s Cannes Queer Palm, having premiered in Competition at the festival, the actor-turned-filmmaker’s latest drama surrounds a teenage boy whose life in a conservative Danube Delta community is turned upside when he is violently attacked for being gay. The film also took home best feature film at Sarajevo and best director at Jerusalem film festival. Three Kilometers is produced by Famart Association and stars Bogdan Dumitrache, Ciprian Chiujdea, Laura Vasiliu, and Valeriu Andriuta. This marks Romania’s 40th submission to the Oscars. The country picked up a nomination in 2020 for Alexander Nanau’s Collective and made the shortlist in 2012 for Beyond The Hills. International sales: Goodfellas
MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
Iraq: Baghdad Messi (Sahim Omar Kalifa)
The country’s 13th entry follows a young boy who is determined not to give up on his dream of playing football after losing his leg in a terrorist attack. The film is adapted from Kalifa’s short of the same name which was shortlisted for an Oscar in 2014. Belgium producer Kobe Van Steenberghe penned the screenplay once again and produced the title through his outfit A Team Productions. Other producers are Brussels-based company 10.80 Film, Germany’s Motisfilm and Dutch outfit Column Film. International sales: Goodfellas
Turkey: Life (Zeki Demirkubuz)
The Turkish filmmaker’s latest drama centres around a woman who runs away when she is forced to marry a man she hardly knows and the fiance who travels to Istanbul reluctantly to find her. Awarded best film at the Mediterrane festival, Life also screened in Rotterdam and was nominated for nine awards at the Turkish Film Critics Association, winning in best supporting actor for Cem Davran. Turkey has submitted to the Oscars over 30 times and was shortlisted in 2008 for Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Three Monkeys. International sales: Basak Emre Pundurs
Palestine: From Ground Zero (Masharawi Fund)
The inaugural project from Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi’s Gaza film fund is a compilation of 22 short films capturing the situation in Gaza amid the ongoing war with Israel. The films encompass documentary, drama, animation and experimental with the project having its North American premiere at Toronto’s Lightbox strand. France’s Coorigines Productions produced From Ground Zero alongside the Masharawi Fund in co-production with Turkey’s Metafora Productions, Jordan’s Royal Film Commission and UAE’s Sharjah Art Foundation. Palestine has been nominated twice before, in 2005 for Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now and in 2013 with Hany Abu-Assad’s Omar. International sales: Coorigines
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