'The President's Cake'

Source: Sony Pictures Classics

‘The President’s Cake’

Entries for the 2026 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each title on this page. 

The 98th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 15, 2026 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 October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 1, 2025.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to be announced on December 16, 2025, with the final five nominees announced on January 22, 2026.

The 2024 awards saw 89 submissions with the five nominated films comprising Denmark’s The Girl With The Needle, France’s Emilia Perez, Germany’s The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, Latvia’s Flow and the eventual winner I’m Still Here from Brazil.

Latest submissions 

Iraq: The President’s Cake (Hasan Hadi)

Hadi’s debut won the coveted Camera d’Or prize at Cannes after premiering in Directors’ Fortnight, where it also scooped the People’s Choice Award. Follows a nine-year-old Lamia selected for the intimidating role of baking Saddam Hussein’s birthday cake. Sony Pictures Classics has all rights in North America and other key territories. International sales: Films Boutique

Latvia – Dog of God (Lauris and Raitis Ābele)

This animated horror depicts a 17th century witch trial that uncovers a werewolf within a devout community. Dog Of God had its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival and is produced by Tritone Studio and US company Lumiere Lab. International sales: Media Move

Morocco – Calle Malaga (Maryam Touzani)

Winner of the audience award at Venice Film Festival’s Spotlight section, Calle Malaga marks Touzani’s third time representing Morocco at the Oscars. This Spanish-language feature stars Carmen Maura as a 79-year-old who fights to keep her childhood house in Morocco after her daughter decides to sell it. Touzani co-wrote the script with her filmmaker husband Nabil Ayouch, who produces alongside Amine Benjelloun and Jean-Rémi Ducourtioux. International sales: Films Boutique

Netherlands – Reedland (Sven Bresser)

This debut feature premiered in Critics’ Week at Cannes Film Festival in 2025. The story centres on a reed cutter who finds a girl’s corpse on his land and becomes obsessed with unravelling the mystery. Marleen Slot produces for Viking Film. The Netherlands has won the Oscar three times and been nominated a further four. International sales: The Party Film Sales

North Macedonia – The Tale Of Silyan (Tamara Kotevska)

Fresh from its Venice world premiere out of competition, this documentary also screened at Toronto before hitting up several other festivals including Chicago and Adelaide. The film centres on a farmer’s bond with a white stork. Producers are Ciconia Film, Concordia Studio and The Corner Shop. International sales: Dogwoof

Croatia: Fiume o Morte! (Igor Bezinović)

Winner of Rotterdam film festival’s Tiger award and Fipresci prize, this comedy docudrama depicts the retelling by locals of a bizarre story about the 16-month occupation of the Croatian city of Rijeka – known to Italians as Fiume – in 1919 by Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio. Producers are Vanja Jambrovic and Tibor Keser for Croatia’s Restart. With 35 Oscar submissions, Croatia has yet to receive a nomination. International sales: Lightdox

Armenia: My Armenian Phantoms (Tamara Stepanyan)

This documentary follows the life of director Stepanyan as she counts her life iving in an artistic Armenian family and what it was like to see her father Vigen Stepanyan in Soviet Armenian cinema. It had its world premiere at Berlinale in the Forum Special section and is produced by France’s TS Productions and French Kiss Productions with Armenia’s Visan. The country made the shortlist in 2023 with Amerikatsi. International sales: Cinephil

Azerbaijan: Taghiyev: Oil (Zaur Gasimli)

The country’s 10th submission follows the early years of Zeynalabdin Taghiyev and is the first in trilogy of films surrounding important milestones in the life of famous Azerbaijani philanthropist. It is produced by Arzu Aliyeva and Orman Aliyev and is written by Ismayil Iman. International sales: TBC

Bulgaria: Tarika (Milko Lazarov)

Premiering at the London Film Festival in 2024, Lazarov’s second Oscar entry centres on a girl with a supernatural medical condition is shunned from the town when the livestock mysteriously starts dying. Producers are Red Carpet (Bulgaria), 42film (Germany) and Amour Fou Luxembourg. Bulgaria made the shortlist once in 2009 with The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner. International sales: Films Boutique

Cambodia: Tenement (Inrasothythep Neth and Sokyou Chea)

This directorial debut uses folk horror to explore the country’s turbulent past as it follows a Cambodian-Japanese artist who returns home after her mother’s death and is haunted with visions. Tenement had its world premiere at Rotterdam 2024 in the Big screen Competition and is produced by Westec Media Limited and Kongchak Pictures. Cambodia has been nominated once, in 2013 for The Missing Picture. International sales: Reel Suspects

Costa Rica: The Altar Boy, the Priest and The Gardener (Juan Manuel Fernández)

The documentary follows two men seeking justice after they were sexually abused as children by their local priest, It won best film at Costa Rica’s film festival and is is produced by Fernández with Karina Blanco. The country has yet to receive a nomination from its 13 submissions. International sales: TBC

Egypt: Happy Birthday (Sarah Goher)

Debut feature follows an eight-year-old who works as a child maid for a wealthy Cairo family and forms a special bond with her employer’s daughter. World premiered at Tribeca. Egypt has submitted 38 films previously to the Oscars, but never made the shortlist or nominations stage so far. International sales: 678flix

Estonia: Rolling Papers (Meel Paliale)

Comedy-drama written and directed by Meel Paliale about a young man working a monotonous job who meets adventurous Silo - together they dream of buying a one-way ticket to Brazil. World premiered at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival last year. Estonia has been nominated once previously in 2013 for Zaza Urushadze’s Tangerines. International sales: Baltic Crime

Indonesia: Sore: Wife From The Future (Yandy Lauren)

Sci-fi romance about a man living alone in Croatia who encounters a woman who claims to be his wife from the future. Adapted from Laurens’ 2017 web series of the same name and starring Dion Wiyoko and Sheila Dara. One of the most watched local titles of the year with 3 million admissions. International sales: TBC

Slovakia: Father (Tereza Nvotová)

The Venice competition world premiere is inspired by the true story of a devoted father whose life is shattered by a single tragic mistake, pushing his marriage and his will to live to the brink. Milan Ondrík, Dominika Morávková and Aňa Geislerová star. The co-production is produced by Veronika Paštéková and Anton Skreko for Slovakia’s Danae Production, Karel Chvojka and Miloš Lochman for the Czech Republic’s moloko film, and Marta Gmosińska and Mariusz Włodarski for Poland’s Lava Films. International sales: Intramovies.

Slovenia: Little Trouble Girls (Urska Djukic)

Urska Djukic’s debut feature world premiered as the opening night film of Berlinale’s new Perspectives strand, and has gone on play Tribeca, Karlovy Vary and Edinburgh. An introverted 16-year-old, played by newcomer Jara Sofija Ostan, joins her Catholic school’s all-girls choir and experiences a sexual awakening. It is produced by Slovenia’s SPOK Films, co-produced with Staragara It (Italy), 365 Films (Croatia) Non-Aligned Films (Serbia), Nosorogi (Slovenia) and OINK (Slovenia) in association with Sister Production (France). nternational sales: Heretic.

Ukraine: 2000 Metres To Andriivka (Mstyslav Chernov)

Chernov turns his lens towards Ukrainian soldiers — who they are, where they came from, and the impossible decisions they face in the trenches — in the follow-up to 20 Days In Mariupol, which won the Oscar for best documentary feature in 2024, and was also in the shortlist for the international feature category. It is a co-production between Associated Press and Frontline PBS, produced by Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson-Rath and Chernov. International sales: Dogwoof 

Uruguay: Don’t You Let Me Go (Ana Guevara, Leticia Jorge)

This tribute to female friendship is the third film from writer-director duo Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge. Agustina Chiarino produces, with Chiara Hourcade, Victoria Jorge and Eva Dans starring. It world premiered at Tribeca. International sales: Alpha Violet 

AMERICAS

Canada: The Things You Kill (Alireza Khatami) 

Read the full story here.

Chile: The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (Diego Céspedes)

This debut feature won the top prize in Cannes Film Festival’s sidebar Un Certain Regard earlier this year and will soon screen in Toronto. The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo tells the story of 12-year-old Lidia who lives in a desert mining town that is being affected by an unknown disease that people think is transmitted when a man falls in love with another man through a look. Chile’s Quijote Films and France’s Les Valseurs produce. Chile won the Oscar in 2018 for Sebastián Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman and was nominated once, in 2012 for Pablo Larrain’s No. International sales: Charades 

Dominican Republic: Pepe (Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias) 

Winner of the Silver Bear for best director in 2024, this docudrama follows the perspective of the first and last hippo killed in the Americas, who recounts his story using oral traditions. It is the director’s second time representing the Dominican Republic after 2018’s Cocote and the country’s 19th submission overall. De los Santos Arias also produces and edits Pepe as well as composing the music and working on the cinematography. International sales: TBC

ASIA-PACIFIC

Japan: Kokuho (Lee Sang-il)

This three-hour epic about a family of kabuki performers premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes and has proved a massive box office locally, earning nearly $80m (¥11.53bn) to become the second-highest grossing live-action Japanese film of all time. Korean Japanese director Lee adapted Shuichi Yoshida’s novel about a gifted kabuki performer descended from a family of gangsters, set against postwar Japan’s economic boom. Ryo Yoshizawa and Ryusei Yokohama stars alongside Ken Watanabe, previously Oscar nominated for The Last Samurai. Japan received an Oscar nomination in this category in 2024 with Wim Wenders Perfect Days and won the Academy Award in 2022 with Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car. Yojiro Takita’s Departures won the Oscar for Japan in 2008. International sales: Pyramide International 

Philippines: Magellan (Lav Diaz)

Gael Garcia Bernal stars as 16th-century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who voyaged to the Malayan Archipelago and became obsessed with conquest and conversion, sparking violent uprisings. The film premiered at Cannes and went on to be selected for Toronto and Busan. Diaz is a prolific Filipino filmmaker who won Locarno’s Golden Leopard in 2014 with From What Is Before, a Berlinale Silver Bear in 2016 with A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery and Venice’s Golden Lion the same year with The Woman Who Left. The Philippines previously submitted Diaz’s work to the Oscars with 2013’s Norte, The End Of History. Despite 35 entries since 1953, the country has yet to secure a nomination in the category. International sales: Luxbox

South Korea: No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook)

Read the full story here.

Thailand: A Useful Ghost (Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke)

This supernatural drama won the Grand Prix in the Critics’ Week sidebar at Cannes after becoming the first Thai film selected on the Croisette in 10 years. Local superstar Davika Hoorne from box-­office hit Pee Mak plays a dead woman who returns to her husband by possessing a vacuum cleaner and offers to be a useful ghost and get rid of useless spirits. The debut feature is produced by Cattleya Paosrijaroen and Soros Sukhum of Thailand’s 185 Films, alongside France’s Haut Les Mains, Singapore’s Momo Film and Germany’s Mayana Film. It marks the country’s 32nd submission to the Oscars with no nominations to date. However, it did make the shortlist last year with Pat Boonnitipat’s How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies. International sales: Best Friend Forever

Taiwan: Left-Handed Girl (Shih-Ching Tsou)

Tsou’s solo directing debut is produced, edited and co-written by Sean Baker, the US director of Oscar-winner Anora. The Taipei-set drama follows a single mother and her two daughters who move from the countryside to open a food stall at a bustling night market. The film premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week. Mike Goodridge from Good Chaos is also a producer on the Taiwan-France-US-UK co-production, which was acquired by Netflix for most of the world. Taiwanese-American filmmaker Tsou co-directed 2004’s Take Out with Baker, and produced his features Tangerine, The Florida Project and Red Rocket. 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: Le Pacte

EUROPE

Austria: Peacock (Bernhard Wenger)

Albrecht Schuch stars in this comedy which premiered at Venice Critics’ Week in 2024. Wenger’s debut feature, the film revolves around the “Rent a Friend” concept prevalent in Japan and the US and was developed through Cannes Cinéfondation Residence in 2020. Producers include Michael Kitzberger and Wolfgang Widerhofer of Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion, and Martina Haubrich of Cala Filmproduktion. Austria has won the Oscar twice - in 2013 for Michael Haneke’s Armour and in 2008 for Stefan Ruzowitzky’s The Counterfeiters - and has been nominated a further two times.  International sales: mk2 Films 

Belgium: Young Mothers (Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne)

The Dardenne Brothers represent their country for the fifth time with this drama about five young mothers living in a residential shelter. The film premiered in Competition at Cannes where it won the best screenplay and jury prize. It is produced by the Dardennes’ own Les Films Du Fleuve in co-production with Archipel 35, The Reunion, France 2 Cinéma, Be Tv & Orange, Proximus, and RTBF. Belgium was last nominated in 2022 with Lukas Dhont’s Close and received seven other nominations prior. International sales: Goodfellas

Bulgaria: Tarika (Milko Lazarov)

Tarika premiered at the BFI London Film Festival, and follows a girl (Veseka Valcheva) with medical condition that may give her supernatural abilities. She lives peacefully with her father (Zahari Baharov) until people in her village start blaming her for the deaths of livestock. It is Lazarov’s third feature. No Bulgarian films has been nominated in the category, although Stephan Komandarev’s The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner was shortlisted in 2009. International sales: Films Boutique

Czech Republic: I’m Not Everything I Want To Be (Klára Tasovská)

Premiering out of Berlinale’s Panorama strand in 2024, this documentary follows the life and career of photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková who captured LGBTQ life in Prague before homosexuality was decriminalised. The film is produced by Lukáš Kokeš and Tasovská herself for Somatic Films (Czech Republic), in co-production with Jakub Viktorín for Nutprodukcia (Slovakia) and Ralph Wieser for Mischief Films (Austria). The Czech Republic won the Oscar once in 1996 for Kolya while the country has been nominated a further two times and made it to the shortlist three times, most recently last year with Waves. International sales: Square Eyes 

Germany: Sound Of Falling (Mascha Schilinski)

Read the full story here.

Iceland: The Love That Remains (Hlynur Pálmason)

Launching in Cannes Premiere earlier this year, The Love That Remains captures a year in the life of a family as the parents navigate their separation. It is produced by Anton Mani Svansson of Iceland’s Still Vivid and Katrin Pors of Denmark’s Snowglobe. This is Pálmason’s third time flying the flag for Iceland, having previously made the shortlist in 2023 with Godland. The country has made the shortlist a further three times and was last nominated in 1991 with Friðrik Þór Friðriksson’s Children Of Nature. International sales: New Europe Films

Ireland: Sanatorium (Gar O’Rourke)

The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) has selected Ireland produced, Ukrainian-language documentary Sanatorium, directed by Galway-born filmmaker Gar O’Rourke. The doc premiered at CPH:DOX and won best Irish documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh. It is set in southern Ukraine, where despite a war close by, mud treatments and electro-therapies continue at Kuyalnik Sanatorium, where the staff and visitors are determined to have a holiday away from the outside world. Producers are Venom Films’ Ken Wardrop and Andrew Freedman, along with Samantha Corr, and co-produced by 2332 Films Ukraine with backing from Screen Ireland, BBC Storyville, MetFilm Sales, France TV, and Creative Europe. The film was selected by a committee including filmmakers Kirsten Sheridan and Rich Peppiatt - director of last year’s Irish entry Kneecap which made it to the shortlist stage - plus actor Barry Ward. International sales: MetFilm Sales

Norway: Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)

Read the full story here.

Sweden: Eagles Of The Republic (Tarik Saleh)

Swedish-Egyptian Saleh’s Cannes Competition and Toronto selection Eagles Of The Republic is the final instalment of his Cairo trilogy. Fares Fares play Egypt’s most adored actor in the Arab-language thriller, who is pressured to star in a film commissioned by the highest authorities. He reluctantly accepts the role and finds himself thrown into the inner circle of power, where he begins a risky affair. Producers are Sweden’s Unlimited Stories and Apparaten, with France’s Memento Production. International sales: Playtime 

Switzerland: Late Shift (Petra Volpe)

Read the full story here.

Turkey: One Of The Days When Hemme Dies (Murat Fıratoğlu)

This debut feature premiered at Venice Film Festival’s Horizons strand in 2024 where it won the special jury prize. One Of The Days… follows a tomato harvest worker who, desperately trying to pay off an impending debt, seeks a radical solution. Firatoglu also starred in and produced the film which he funded with debts and loans from family and friends. Turkey has submitted to the Oscars over 30 times and was shortlisted in 2008 for Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Three Monkeys. International sales: Luxbox

MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

Jordan: All That’s Left Of You (Cherien Dabis)

Inspired by the director’s own experiences, this Sundance premiere follows a Palestinian family over the arc of decades from the loss of their citrus orchards in 1948 to the present day. All That’s Left of You is produced by Thanassis Karathanos, Cherien Dabis, Martin Hampel, and Karim Amer, with Janine Teerling and Marios Piperides as co-producers. It is a production of Pallas Film, Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion, Displaced Pictures, and Nooraluna Productions, co-produced by AMP Filmworks and ZDF/ARTE. Jordan has received one nomination out of eight submissions - in 2016 for Naji Abu Nowar’s Theeb. International sales: The Match Factory 

Palestine: Palestine 36 (Annemarie Jacir)

Read the full story here.

Tunisia: The Voice Of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben Hania)

Read full story here. 

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