Entries for the 2027 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each title on this page.
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The 99th Academy Awards ceremony is set to take place on March 14, 2027, 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, 2025 and September 30, 2026. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is September 30, 2026.
In a change from previous years, films not in the English language that win a qualifying award at select international film festivals (Berlin, Busan, Cannes, Sundance, Toronto and Venice) are now also eligible.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to be announced on December 15, 2026, with the final five nominees announced on January 21, 2027.
The 2026 awards saw 86 eligible submissions with the five nominated films comprising Sentimental Value (Norway), It Was Just An Accident (France), The Secret Agent (Brazil), Sirat (Spain) and The Voice Of Hind Rajab (Tunisia).
Screen will update the international feature submissions as they are announced. Click on a film’s title to read Screen’s review.
Latest submissions
Pakistan: Hanging By A Wire (Mohammed Ali Naqvi)
This is the true story of a school commute that turned into a nightmare when a cable car wire snapped and left eight passengers suspended hundreds of feet above a ravine in the foothills of the Pakistani Himalayas. The film, which combines archive footage from the 2023 incident with dramatic reconstructions, premiered at Sundance before going on to screen at Sydney and Tribeca film festivals among others. An Emmy-nominated producer/director, Naqvi has consistently sought to illuminate aspects of life in Pakistan with notable documentaries including Shame (2006), Among The Believers (2015) and The Accused: Damned Or Devoted (2020). This marks the first time Pakistan has submitted a documentary to the Oscars, having only made the shortlist once in 2023 with Saim Sadiq’s Joyland.
International sales: CAA
Denmark: Woman Unknown (May el-Toukhy)
Read the full story here.
Americas
Argentina: The Virgin Of The Quarry Lake (Laura Casabé)
A jealous girl uses magic to interfere with a relationship involving a boy with whom she is infatuated in this supernatural horror. It received its world premiere in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition in 2025 and went on to play Sitges, winning best cinematography at the festival. Filmmaker Casabé won the best direction at Sitges in 2020 with her previous film, The Returned. Argentina has won this award on two occasions, with The Official Story in 1986 and The Secret In Their Eyes in 2010. It has landed six nominations - most recently Santiago Mitre’s Argentina, 1985 in 2023 – and made the shortlist last year with Dolores Fonzi’s Belén.
International sales: Filmax
Bolivia: The Condor Daughter (Álvaro Olmos Torrico)
Bolivian writer-director Torrico’s second feature stars Marisol Vallejo Montañor as a young midwife who leaves her small indigenous community in the Andes to purse a musical career. Also starring María Magdalena Sanizo as her adoptive mother who goes on a mission to bring her home, it premiered at Toronto in 2025. Bolivia has been submitting films for Oscar consideration since 1995 but has yet to earn a nomination.
International sales: Bendita Film Sales
Brazil: Gugu’s World (Allan Deberton)
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Canada: Nina Roza (Geneviève Dulude-De Celles)
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Chile: The Meltdown (Manuela Martelli)
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Colombia: Rains Over Babel (Gala del Sol)
This fantasy comedy, inspired by Dante’s Inferno, is set in the Colombian city of Cali and centres on a nightclub which acts as purgatory between life and death. The debut feature of writer-director-producer Sol received its world premiere at Sundance before going on to Rotterdam. Colombia has been nominated once in the international Oscar category for Ciro Guerra’s Embrace Of The Serpent in 2015.
International sales: Latido Films
Dominican Republic: Melodrama (Andrés Farías)
This romance drama follows a Dominican widow who forms an unexpected, but disapproved of, romance with a Haitian construction worker. Cast includes Heroes star Jimmy Jean-Louis. Melodrama premiered at the Miami Film Festival earlier this year and is produced by Lantica Studios. The Dominican Republic has submitted 19 times and is yet to secure a nomination.
International sales: TBC
Ecuador: The Ivy (Ana Cristina Barragán)
This drama centres on a woman who begins observing a group of teenagers living in a group home, developing a bond with one of them. The cast is led by Simone Bucio and Francis Eddú Llumiquinga. It marks the third feature of writer-director Barragan and received its world premiere in Venice’s Horizons section in 2025 and won best screenplay. It went on to play San Sebastian where it received a special mention. It is the second time Barragan has represented Ecuador, following Alba in 2017. The South American country has submitted 14 films to date but has yet to make the shortlist.
International sales: Bendita Film Sales
Mexico: On The Road (David Pablos)
Víctor Miguel Prieto and Osvaldo Sánchez star in the 2025 Venice Orrizonti selection that won the programme’s best film prize and the Queer Lion Award. On The Road takes place in the world of long-haul trucking as a young drifter and a solitary trucker bond, only for the youngster’s past to reemerge and threaten their lives. Pablos’s feature debut The Life After premiered in Venice in 2013 and The Chosen Ones debuted in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2015.
International sales: TBC
Asia
Bangladesh: Roid (Mejbaur Rahman Sumon)
A man living in near isolation attempts to build a life with his wife, who has been ostracised from their community, but her declining mental state shatters his peaceful existence. The film bowed in the Tiger Competition of International Film Festival Rotterdam. It marks the second feature of director Rahman Sumon, whose debut Hawa was Bangladesh’s entry to the 2023 Oscars. The South Asian country has submitted films since 2002 but has yet to make the shortlist.
Production company: Facecard Production
Cambodia: Becoming Human (Polen Ly)
This fantasy drama follows the spirit guardian of an abandoned cinema who must decide to become human or remain a homeless ghost. It marks the debut feature of Polen Ly and premiered at Venice’s Biennale Cinema in August 2025 before travelling to Busan, BFI London, Hong Kong Asia, Singapore and Taipei Golden Horse film festivals. It also scooped the top prize at Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF). Cambodia has been nominated once, in 2013 for Rithy Panh’s The Missing Picture, while Davy Chou’s Return To Seoul made the shortlist in 2022.
International sales: Lights On
Hong Kong: Sons Of The Neon Night (Juno Mak)
Set in the 1990s, this big budget crime thriller follows two brothers on opposite sides of the drug trade who become locked in an increasingly ruthless power struggle. The starry cast includes Takeshi Kaneshiro, Sean Lau, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Louis Koo and Ritchie Jen. It premiered at Cannes 2025 and won eight prizes at the Hong Kong Film Awards. It marks the second feature of actor-turned-director Mak after 2013’s Rigor Mortis. It is Hong Kong’s 45th entry to the Oscars, with three previous nominations: Zhang Yimou’s Raise the Red Lantern in 1992, Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine in 1994, and Derek Tsang’s Better Days in 2021.
International sales: Distribution Workshop
India: Gondhal (Santosh Davakhar)
A joyful wedding party turns sinister in this drama thriller, which unfolds on a single night that brings an entire village together in celebration only to be undone by lingering resentments, delicate egos and romantic jealousy. The Marathi-language film marks the feature debut of Davakhar and premiered in competition at Goa in 2025. India has been nominated for the Oscar three times and made the shortlist last year with Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound, exec produced by Martin Scorsese.
International sales: Davakhar Films
Indonesia: Four Seasons In Java (Kamila Andini)
This drama centres on a woman who returns to her village after years in prison and is forced to confront the people, memories and violence that shaped her past. It premiered at Toronto ahead of playing Busan, Singapore and Tokyo film festivals. Director Andini was previously in Berlinale Competition with Before, Now & Then in 2022, and first played Toronto in 2021 with Yumi, which won the Platform Prize and became Indonesia’s Oscars submission. The Southeast Asian country has submitted films since 1987 but has yet to secure a nomination in the category.
International sales: Goodfellas
Japan: All Of A Sudden (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Nearly five years after Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car won the international Oscar in 2022, he represents Japan for a second time in the category. His latest drama centres on the bond between the head of a French care home for the elderly and a Japanese theatre director battling cancer. The film premiered in Competition at Cannes, where leads Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto were jointly awarded the best actress prize. Neon has North America rights. Japan made the shortlist last time with Lee Sang-il’s Kokuho and received a nomination in the category in 2024 with Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days. Prior to Drive My Car’s win in 2022, Yojiro Takita’s Departures won the Oscar for Japan in 2008.
International sales: Cinefrance International, Bitters End (Asia)
Malaysia: The Fox King (Woo Ming Jin)
Fraternal twins with a telepathic bond are abandoned by their father after his remarriage in this teenage drama. Navigating bullying at school and the arrival of a new teacher, tragedy forces a transition from childhood to adulthood. After premiering at Toronto 2025, the film went on to play Busan, Bangkok, Beijing and more. Director Woo Ming Jin was previously known for revenge thriller Stone Turtle, which won the Fipresci prize at Locarno 2022. This is the 11th Oscar submission by Malaysia, which has yet to make the shortlist.
Production companies: Greenlight Pictures, KawanKawan Media
Mongolia: Independence: Keeper Of The Prophecy (Tamir Bat-Ulzii)
Set in the early 1900s when Mongolia declared its independence from China, this sweeping historical drama is a near three-hour epic. Director Tamir also stars in the film, which received a local release in March. Mongolia has previously submitted 10 entries to the Oscars but has not reached the shortlist to date.
Nepal: Elephants In The Fog (Abinash Bikram Shah)
The winner of this year’s Un Certain Regard jury prize at Cannes is about the matriarch of a Kinnar community - played by newcomer Puspa Thing Lama - whose daughter goes missing whilst on patrol for wild elephants living in the surrounding forests. The film screened at Toronto and has been nominated for three Asia Pacific Screen Awards, including best film, director and performance. In 2022, Shah’s short film Lori received a jury special mention at Cannes. Nepal has only ever been nominated once, back in 1999, with Himalaya.
International sales: Best Friend Forever
Philippines: Filipiñana (Rafael Manuel)
This drama centres on a teenager working at a country club outside Manila who discovers the violent truths of the club, her native country and her own past. Manuel wrote, directed, produced and edited the feature, based on his 2020 short film of the same title. Acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke is executive producer. The film premiered at Sundance where it won the special jury award for creative vision before going on to screen at the Berlinale. Despite 36 entries since 1953, the country has yet to secure a nomination in the category.
International sales: Magnify
Singapore: We Are All Strangers (Anthony Chen)
Set over three years, this drama explores unconventional surrogate relationships through a 21-year-old man and his modest father who must redefine their family when a woman enters their lives. Written and directed by Chen, it completes his ‘Growing Up’ trilogy, which began with Cannes 2013 Camera d’Or winner Ilo Ilo and was followed by 2019’s Wet Season. The film was the first from Singapore to compete in Berlinale Competition and is selected for Toronto. Film Movement has North American distribution rights. Singapore entered the international feature award for the Oscars in 1960 but did not enter another title until Eric Khoo’s Be With Me in 2005. It has no nominations from 19 previous entries to date.
International sales: Paradise City Sales
South Korea: Possible Love (Lee Chang-dong)
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Taiwan: A Foggy Tale (Chen Yu-hsun)
This historical drama is set in the 1950s during Taiwan’s White Terror period of suppression and follows a young girl who travels alone to the north to reclaim the remains of her brother following his execution. The film premiered as the opening film of the 2025 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and was the frontrunner of last year’s Golden Horse Awards with 11 nominations, winning four including best narrative feature. Director Chen is known for Berlinale 2014 title Zone Pro Site: The Moveable Feast and 2020’s My Missing Valentine. Taiwan made the shortlist last year with Shih-Ching Tsou’s Left-Handed Girl but did not land a nomination. It was previously shortlisted with Chung Mong-Hong’s family drama A Sun in 2020 and 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: Mandarin Vision
Thailand: 9 Temples To Heaven (Sompot Chidgasornpongse)
This family drama is produced by Thai auteur and Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul, whose Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives was submitted to this category for the 2011 Oscars. The story follows the spiritual journey of a family of nine, who on hearing from a fortune teller that the 83-year-old grandma may not live past her next birthday, embark on a nine-temple trip within a single day. It marks the fiction feature debut of Sompot, who worked as assistant director on Apichatpong projects for more than two decades. Since first entering the category in 1984, Thailand has only been shortlisted once for How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies in 2024.
International sales: Playtime
Vietnam: Spirit Guardians: The Last Secret Of The First Emperor (Nguyen Phan Quang Binh)
This period epic follows seven loyal warriors who escort 99 coffins to various locations, to keep the final resting place of the Dinh Dynasty’s first emperor a secret. Billed as one of the largest film productions in Vietnam’s history, the cast includes Tuan Tran and action star Johnny Tri Nguyen. It premiered as Toronto’s first-ever Gala screening for a film from Vietnam. Since securing a nomination with its first entry in 1994, The Scent Of Green Papaya, Vietnam has yet to make the shortlist.
Production company: BHD, Vietnam Media
Europe
Albania: A State Film (Roland Sejko)
This documentary explores the 40-year-long Communist regime in Albania under prime minister Enver Hoxha through footage that the state produced to promote itself. The film premiered as part of of Venice sidebar Giornate degli Autori in 2025. Director Sejko is a professional archivist and head of the editorial department for Italy’s Cinecitta Luce. This is Albania’s 19th Oscar entry, with no nominations or shortlisted titles to date.
Production company: Luce Cinecitta
Armenia: In the Land of Arto (Tamara Stepanyan)
Stepanyan’s fiction feature debut (her documentary My Armenian Phantoms was Armenia’s entry last year) stars Camille Cottin as a woman who arrives in Armenia to legalise the death of her husband but discovers he has been lying about his identity. Zar Amir also stars in this Armenia-France co-production, which received its world premiere as the opening film of Locarno 2025. The country has submitted 16 entries to date, but whilst Amerikatsi made the shortlist in 2023, Armenia has yet to receive a nomination.
International sales: Be For Films
Austria: Rose (Markus Schleinzer)
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Belgium: Coward (Lukas Dhont)
Coward marks the third time that a film by Lukas Dhont represents Belgium in the Oscars race, following Girl and Close, with the latter nominated for best international feature in 2023. Dhont’s third feature film world premiered in competition at Cannes, where stars Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne were awarded the best actor prize. Coward sees new soldier Pierre arrive at the front in WWI in 1916, determined to prove himself in battle. There he meets Francis, who tries to keep the troops’ spirits up with improvised shows. As the war rages relentlessly on, they both seek to escape reality, if only for a moment. Coward was produced by Michiel Dhont for The Reunion, in co-production with Versus (Opus) in Belgium, Lumen in France and Topkapi Films in the Netherlands. Mubi has rights in key territories including the United States, Germany, Spain, Italy, Latin America and the United Kingdom.
International sales: The Match Factory
Bosnia & Herzegovina: The Widower (Hari Šečić)
When a 62-year-old electrician finds himself a widower, he must contend with the realisation he had taken his wife for granted. Starring acclaimed Bosnian actor Izudin Bajrovic, the film premiered at Sarajevo where it won the Prixx Cineplexx audience award. B&H won the Academy Award with its second entry, Danis Tanovic’s No Man’s Land, in 2002; made the shortlist in 2014 with An Episode In The Life Of An Iron Picker, also by Tanovic; and landed a nomination in 2021 with Jasmila Žbanić’s Quo Vadis, Aida?.
Production company: Spektar
Bulgaria: The Dreamed Adventure (Valeska Grisebach)
Yana Radeva and Syuleyman Letifov star as friends who are reunited in the small crime-ridden Bulgarian town they left years ago in German writer-director Grisebach’s gangster feature. The film played in Competition at this year’s Cannes, where it won the jury prize. Bulgaria has submitted 37 entries for the international Oscar, with its closest attempt coming in 2009 when Stephan Komandarev’s The World Is Big And Salvation Lurks Around The Corner made the shortlist.
International sales: The Match Factory
Croatia: God Will Not Help (Hana Jusic)
Jusic’s second feature after 2016’s Quit Staring At My Plate revolves around a mountain community which is rocked by the arrival of a Chilean woman who claims to be the wife of a man who left years before. World premiering in competition at Locarno in 2025 (where Manuela Martelli and Ana Marija Veselčić shared the prize for best performance), it also played in competition at Sarajevo. Croatia has never made it to the Oscar shortlist despite submitting films since 1991.
International sales: New Europe Film Sales
Cyprus: Hold Onto Me (Myrsini Aristidou)
The feature directorial debut of Cypriot filmmaker Aristidou won the audience award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance earlier this year. It follows 11-year-old Iris, played by Maria Petrova, who learns that her estranged father, played by Dogtooth actor Christos Passalis, has returned for the funeral of his own father. It marks the first time Cyprus has entered the international Oscar category.
International sales: Cercamon
Czech Republic: If Pigeons Turned To Gold (Pepa Lubojacki)
If Pigeons Turned To Gold world premiered in the Berlinale’s Forum section, going on to win the festival’s main documentary feature award. Shot on an iPhone, the documentary explores addiction and intergenerational trauma, as director Lubojacki tries to understand why their older brother and cousins live unhoused and experience substance abuse. The doc is produced by Wanda Kaprálová and Klára Mamojková of Claw films.
International sales: Split Screen
Estonia: Our Erika (German Golub)
The debut feature of German Golub – winner of a Student Academy Award in 2020 with short My Dear Corpses – is a biopic of Estonian Olympic track cyclist Erika Salumäe, who won a gold medal for the USSR in 1988 and the first gold for the newly independent Estonia at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Estonia has landed one nomination to date in the category for Zaza Urushadze’s Tangerines in 2024.
Production company: Filmivabrik
Finland: The Squirrel (Markus Lehmusruusu)
Set in the future, Lehmusruusu’s second feature centres on a lonely designer of synthetic pets who discovers the last surviving squirrel. Miro Lopperi, Mimosa Willamo and Hannu-Pekka Björkman star in the film which premiered in Finland in April and was selected to receive its international premiere at Fantastic Fest in Texas. Finland has been nominated for the interview Oscar once in 2002 for Aki Kaurismaki’s The Man Without A Past.
International sales: REinvent International Sales
France: Minotaur (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
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Georgia: Guria (Levan Koguashvili)
This black-and-white tragicomedy, set in the western Georgian Guria region in the 1990s, centres on a 45-year-old widower and hazelnut farmer as he struggles to find love. It premiered in this year’s Venice’s Spotlight section. Koguashvili’s previous credits include Blind Dates and Brighton 4th, which won the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Tribeca in 2019. Georgia has been submitting entries since 1996, being nominated only once for its first ever entry, Nana Jorjadze’s A Chef In Love.
International sales: Loco Films
Germany: Everytime (Sandra Wollner)
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Greece: Broken Vein (Yannis Economides)
Broken Vein world premiered at Mar del Plata in November 2025, launching later that month in Greek cinemas through Tanweer. The film centres on a businessman who believes he has found the perfect way to prevent a loan shark from taking his home. His plan, however, begins to unravel as a series of unexpected events unfold. Economides co-wrote the screenplay with Vangelis Mourikis, who also appears in the film alongside Vassilis Bisbikis, Maria Kehayioglou and Betty Arvaniti. Greece has been nominated five times in this category, most recently in 2010 for Yorgos Lanthimos’s Dogtooth.
International sales: Tanweer
Hungary: Silent Friend (Ildiko Enyedi)
Silent Friend is a poetic exploration of the relationship between humans, plants and time, starring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Luna Wedler, Enzo Brumm and Léa Seydoux. The film received six awards at last year’s Venice festival and was recently selected as one of five nominees for the Fipresci Grand Prix, recognising the best films of the year. The German-Hungarian-French co-production, made in collaboration with China, is the latest from Enyedi, the writer-director of the Golden Bear-winning and Academy Award-nominated On Body and Soul.
International sales: Films Boutique
Iceland: The Ground Beneath Our Feet (Yrsa Roca Fannberg)
Fannberg’s documentary is set in the Grund nursing home where she used to work, following the daily rhythms of its residents. It premiered at CPH DOX in March 2025 and won documentary of the year at Reykjavík later that year along with a special mention at Zurich. Iceland has been nominated once in the category for Children Of Nature in 1991.
International sales: In Perspective
Ireland: Aontas
Ireland was last nominated in this category in 2023, for The Quiet Girl, and was shortlisted in 2024 with Bafta-winning Kneecap. Carrie Crowley – who also appeared in The Quiet Girl – stars alongside Bríd Brennan and Eva-Jane Gaffney in Damian McCann’s Irish-language heist thriller Aontas, which played at the Dublin film festival in 2025. Told in reverse chronology, the film follows three unlikely thieves, led by a woman on the verge of a breakdown, who rob a rural Irish bank. Órfhlaith Ní Chearnaigh and Christopher Myers produce for Púca Pictures. The selection was made by an Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) committee including Derry Girls and How To Get To Heaven From Belfast writer-creator Lisa McGee, Nothing Compares filmmaker Kathryn Ferguson and Lee Cronin, director of the recent The Mummy reboot.
International sales: Puca Pictures
Italy: The Spiral (Paolo Strippoli)
Art-horror specialist Paolo Strippoli’s The Spiral (L’Estranea) played Venice’s main competition in September just a year after his The Holy Boy played out of competition at the festival. It is based on a familiar fairytale premise: a mysterious stranger who helped save a child’s life years earlier is looking to cash in the debt. Jasmine Trinca, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Romana Maggiora Vergano and Adriano Giannini star. Italy’s Propaganda produces, with 01 Distribution releasing in Italy on October 8.
International sales: Le Pacte
Kosovo: Dua (Blerta Basholli)
Set in the late 1990s, this drama follows 13-year-old Dua as she faces pressure to grow up amid rising tensions in Kosovo. Produced by Valon Bajgora through Alva Films, it stars Pinea Matoshi, Vlera Bilalli and Kaona Matoshi. Dua won the SACD Award in the Critics’ Week sidebar at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival. It marks Kosovo’s 10th submission, having previously made the shortlist in 2021 with Hive, also directed by Basholli.
International sales: The Party Film Sales
Latvia: Ulya (Viesturs Kairišs)
The country’s 18th submission premiered in Un Certain Regard at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival before going on to screen at the Jerusalem Film Festival, where its star, Karlis Arnolds Avots, won best performance. Avtos, a male actor and 2025 European Film Promotion Shooting Star, plays Uljana Semjonova, the seven-foot Latvian woman who became an international basketball star and died in January this year. Avtos was also a co-writer on the film. It is produced by Latvia’s Ego Media in collaboration with Estonia’s Allfilm, Poland’s Staron Film and Lithuania’s Tremora. Latvia was nominated in 2024 for the animation Flow.
International sales: B-Rated International
Lithuania: How To Divorce During The War (Andrius Blaževičius)
This comedy-drama unfolds on the eve of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, when Marija chooses to tell her husband Vytas she wants a divorce. The film stars Marius Repšys, Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė and Amelija Adomaityte, and is produced by M-Films. Blaževičius won the directing award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Lithuania has submitted 18 films but has not yet been nominated.
International sales: New Europe Film Sales
Luxembourg: Child (Cyrus Neshvad)
The debut feature of director Neshvad - whose The Red Suitcase was nominated for best live action short film at the 2023 Oscars - premiered at Raindance Film Festival. Starring Brigitte Urhausen, Lydia Indjova and Malik Zidi, the psychological horror about a couple crossing boundaries to try and save their young son will also represent Luxembourg at Spain’s Goya Awards. The country has submitted 20 entries for the Oscar but has yet to make the shortlist.
Production company: Cynefilms
Montenegro: To Hold A Mountain (Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazic)
To Hold A Mountain won the grand jury prize in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance, and has picked up a slew of awards since including the best documentary prize at Sarajevo film festival and the grand prix at Warsaw’s Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival. Set in the remote highlands of Montenegro’s Sinjajevina plateau, it centres on Gara and her 13-year-old daughter Nada who return to their ancestral pastures every summer. But their fragile world comes under threat when the Montenegrin government advances plans for a NATO-backed military training ground in the heart of this protected landscape. It is produced through Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić, Quentin Laurent and Rok Biček at Wake Up Films.
International sales: Submarine
Netherlands: Paikar (Dawood Hilmandi)
Dutch-Afghan filmmaker Hilmandi’s documentary follows his own journey across Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq as he attempts to reconcile with his authoritarian father – a fighter turned imam. The film premiered at IDFA where it won the best first feature and Fipresci awards. It also scooped the emerging international filmmaker award at Hot Docs. The Netherlands has won in the foreign Oscar category three times with Fons Rademakers’ The Assault in 1987, Marleen Gorris’s Antonia’s Line in 1996 and Mike van Diem’s Character in 1998. It has not made the shortlist since Paula van der Oest’s Accused in 2015.
International sales: Taskovski Films
Poland: Fatherland (Pawel Pawlikowski)
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Romania: Fjord (Cristian Mungiu)
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Slovakia: Flood (Martin Gonda)
Set in communist Czechoslovakia in 1980, this debut feature focuses on Mara, a young woman determined to leave her village and become a pilot. Her widowed father refuses to let her go, and when the village faces destruction by a planned reservoir, the strain between the two intensifies. The film is produced by Silver Art Company and won the best screenplay award at the Mar del Plata International Film Festival in 2025. Since becoming an independent nation in 1993, Slovakia has submitted 30 films but has yet to secure a nomination.
International sales: TBC
Spain: La Bola Negra (Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi)
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Sweden: Adult Supervision (Alex Schulman)
Sweden has submitted to the best international feature award almost every year since the first in 1957, and won with Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring and Through A Glass Darkly in 1961 and 1962. However, it has not claimed the prize since its third victory in 1984 wth Bergman’s Fanny And Alexander, with its best recent results being nominations for Hannes Holm’s A Man Called Ove in 2017 and Ruben Ostlund’s The Square the following year, with Tarik Saleh’s Boy From Heaven making the shortlist for 2023. Its latest effort stars Gustaf Skarsgard, Fares Fares and Linus Wahlgren, as three fathers chaperoning their teenage daughters on a rowdy school trip to a remote island where tensions quickly escalate. Schulman’s debut feature will have its world premiere at genre event Fantastic Fest in Austin, US in September, before screenings at Zurich and Reykjavik.
International sales: Heretic
Switzerland: Who Is Still Alive (Nicolas Wadimoff)
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Turkey: Like A Limbless Tree (Tunç Davut)
This Turkish drama is produced by Tekhne Film and stars Ali Ipin, Fayyaz Duman and Selen Kurtaran. It follows retired engineer Refik who is suddenly left to care for his Syrian caregiver’s son after she disappears while attempting to flee to Europe. It marks the country’s 33rd entry since its debut submission in 1964. While yet to receive a nomination, Turkey previously made the Oscar shortlist in 2008 with Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Three Monkeys.
International sales: Bir Fil
Ukraine: Traces (Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk)
Traces won the audience award in the documentary section of the Berlinale’s Panorama section earlier this year. The film documents the testimonies and experiences of Ukrainian women who speak up after surviving sexual violence at the hands of Russian forces. It follows the journey of Iryna Dovhan, a former captive turned activist who documents testimonies of affected women in the de-occupied territories of Ukraine. The Ukraine-Poland co-production is directed by Kovalenko, co-directed by Nikitiuk and produced by Olha Bregman and Natalia Libet of 2Brave Productions.
International sales: Stranger Films
Middle East & Africa
Algeria: Roqia (Yanis Koussim)
This horror juxtaposes stories in two timelines – a 1993 car crash that leaves a man bandaged and with amnesia and a present-day ageing Raqi battling Alzheimer’s. It premiered in the Critics’ Week sidebar of Venice 2025 and went on to play Sitges, Thessaloniki (where Koussim won best director), and in competition at Red Sea. It marks the feature directorial debut of Koussim. Algeria won the Oscar in 1970 with its first ever submission, Costa Gavras’ Z, and has since secured four nominations.
International sales: Alpha Violet
Chad: Soumsoum, The Night Of The Stars (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
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Egypt: The Stories (Abu Bakr Shawky)
Set between the late 1960s and 1980s, the film follows a young Cairo man who dreams of becoming a concert pianist, and whose life changes after beginning a pen-pal romance with an Austrian woman during the 1967 war. The cast is led by Amir El-Masry and Valerie Pachner. It premiered at Tallinn Black Nights in 2025 and went on to play Red Sea. Writer/director Shawky previously represented Egypt with his 2018 debut Yomeddine and is also known for directing Saudi camel racing drama Hajjan. The Stories marks Egypt’s 40th submission to the Oscars since 1958 but it has yet to make the shortlist.
International sales: Goodfellas
Jordan: Sink (Zain Duraie)
This drama follows a mother who refuses to accept the deteriorating mental health of her son following his suspension from school after a troubling outburst during his senior year. Starring Clara Khoury (The Voice Of Hind Rajab) and Mohammad Nizar, the film bowed at Toronto 2025 before playing a raft of festivals including BFI London and Red Sea. Director Duraie was named an Arab Star of Tomorrow by Screen in 2024 and was in Venice’s Orizzonti shorts competition with Give Up The Ghost in 2019. Jordan made the shortlist last year with All That’s Left Of You by Cherien Dabis and landed a nomination with Naji Abu Nowar’s Theeb in 2016.
International sales: MetFilm Sales
Morocco: Strawberries (Laila Marrakchi)
This drama follows a group of young women who leave Morocco to work as fruit pickers in Andalusia, but find themselves subjected to poor working conditions and harassment. World premiering at Cannes in Un Certain Regard, Marrakchi’s third feature follows Cannes selection Marock (2005) and Rock The Casbah (2013). Morocco has submitted 22 films to the Oscars category but while it has made the shortlist three times (most recently in 2023 with The Mother Of All Lies), it has yet to land a nomination.
International sales: Lucky Number
Oceania
Australia: First Light (James J. Robinson)
The feature debut of Filipino Australian director Robinson follows a nun and nurse, played by Ruby Ruiz, who finds herself uncovering corruption in the church after the suspicious death of a young construction worker. The film – the first official Filipino-Australian co-production – premiered at Melbourne in 2025 with Robinson picking up the best Australian director award, before going on to screen at Marrakech and Rotterdam among others. Australia has made 18 submissions to the category but has only been nominated once for Martin Butler and Bentley Dean’s Tanna in 2016.
International sales: Independent Entertainment
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