National origin of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Foreign Language Film.      Won the award or one of its Special/Honorary predecessors      Nominated for the award      United States (ineligible for competition)

The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States of America with a predominantly non-English dialogue track.¹

When the first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929 to honor films released in 1927/28, there was no separate category for foreign language films. Between 1947 and 1955, the Academy presented Special/Honorary Awards to the best foreign language films released in the United States.² These awards, however, were not handed out on a regular basis (no award was given in 1953), and were not competitive since there were no nominees but simply one winning film per year. For the 1956 Academy Awards, a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was created for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since then.

Unlike other Academy Awards, the Best Foreign Language Film Award is not presented to a specific individual. It is accepted by the winning film's director,¹ but is considered an award for the submitting country as a whole. Over the years, the Best Foreign Language Film Award and its predecessors have been given almost exclusively to European films: out of the 60 awards handed out by the Academy since 1947 to foreign language films, fifty-one have gone to European films,^[A] four to Asian films,^[B] three to African films and only two to films from the Americas. The late Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini directed four Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award-winning motion pictures during his lifetime, more than any other director. If Special Awards are taken into account, then Fellini's record is tied by his fellow countryman Vittorio De Sica. The Soviet epic War and Peace (1967), for its part, is by far the most expensive and longest motion picture to have won the Best Foreign Language Film Award. Filmed over several years in the 1960s for more than $100 million and running for approximately seven hours, it is the costliest film ever made in history if measured in inflation-adjusted terms.³

Winners and nominees

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In the following table, the years are listed as per Academy convention, and generally correspond to the year of film release; the ceremonies are always held the following year. Films in bold and in dark blue background have received a Special/Honorary Award; those in bold and in light blue background have won a regular Academy Award of Merit. Films that are neither highlighted nor in bold are the nominees. When sorted chronologically, the table always lists the winning film first and then the four other nominees. The Submitting country column indicates the country that officially submitted the film to the Academy, and is not necessarily indicative of the film's main country of production. The original titles of the films are also mentioned, as well as the names of the directors and the languages used in the dialogue track, even though none of these elements is officially included in the nomination. When several languages are used in a film, the predominant one is always listed first; the names of the other languages are written in smaller typesize and placed between brackets. When a film's original title is in a language that uses a non-Roman script, it is first transliterated into the Latin alphabet and then written in its original script. Films from the former Yugoslavia are written in both Latin and Cyrillic due to the fact that the previously official Serbo-Croatian language used both alphabets. Chinese film titles are romanized according to the pinyin system, and are written using the characters employed in their submitting country, i.e. traditional Chinese ones for films submitted by Hong Kong and Taiwan, and simplified Chinese ones for films submitted by the People's Republic of China.

     Special/Honorary Award      Academy Award of Merit

Year	Film title used in nomination	Original title	Submitting country	Director(s)	Language(s)
1947 (20th)	Shoe-Shine [C]	Sciuscià	Italy	Vittorio De Sica	Italian (some parts in English)
1948 (21st)	Monsieur Vincent [D]	Monsieur Vincent	France	Maurice Cloche	French
1949 (22nd)	The Bicycle Thief [E]	Ladri di biciclette	Italy	Vittorio De Sica	Italian
1950 (23rd)	The Walls of Malapaga [F]	Au-delà des grilles French: Au-delà des grilles Italian: Le mura di Malapaga	{co-production} France Italy	René Clément	French (some parts in Italian)
1951 (24th)	Rashomon [G]	Rashômon 羅生門	Japan	Akira Kurosawa	Japanese
1952 (25th)	Forbidden Games [H]	Jeux interdits	France	René Clément	French
1953 (26th)	— (no award given)	— (no award given)	— (no award given)	— (no award given)	— (no award given)
1954 (27th)	Gate of Hell [I]	Jigokumon 地獄門	Japan	Teinosuke Kinugasa	Japanese
1955 (28th)	Samurai, The Legend of Musashi [J]	Miyamoto Musashi 宮本武蔵	Japan	Hiroshi Inagaki	Japanese
1956 (29th)	La Strada [K]	La strada	Italy	Federico Fellini	Italian
1956: (29th)	The Captain of Köpenick [K]	Der Hauptmann von Köpenick	Germany (West)	Helmut Käutner	German
1956: (29th)	Gervaise [K]	Gervaise	France	René Clément	French
1956: (29th)	Harp of Burma [K]	Biruma no tategoto ビルマの竪琴	Japan	Kon Ichikawa	Japanese
1956: (29th)	Qivitoq [K]	Qivitoq	Denmark	Erik Balling	Danish
1957 (30th)	The Nights of Cabiria	Le notti di Cabiria	Italy	Federico Fellini	Italian
1957: (30th)	The Devil Came at Night	Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam	Germany (West)	Robert Siodmak	German
1957: (30th)	Gates of Paris	Porte des Lilas	France	René Clair	French
1957: (30th)	Mother India	Bharat Mata भारत माता	India	Mehboob Khan	Hindi
1957: (30th)	Nine Lives	Ni liv	Norway	Arne Skouen	Norwegian
1958 (31st)	My Uncle	Mon oncle	France	Jacques Tati	French
1958: (31st)	Arms and the Man	Helden	Germany (West)	Franz Peter Wirth	German
1958: (31st)	La Venganza	La venganza	Spain	Juan Antonio Bardem	Spanish
1958: (31st)	The Road a Year Long	La strada lunga un anno Italian: La strada lunga un anno Serbo-Croatian: Cesta duga godinu dana Цеста дуга годину дана	Yugoslavia	Giuseppe De Santis	Italian
1958: (31st)	The Usual Unidentified Thieves	I soliti ignoti	Italy	Mario Monicelli	Italian
1959 (32nd)	Black Orpheus	Orfeu Negro	France	Marcel Camus	Portuguese
1959: (32nd)	The Bridge	Die Brücke	Germany (West)	Bernhard Wicki	German (some parts in English)
1959: (32nd)	The Great War	La grande guerra	Italy	Mario Monicelli	Italian
1959: (32nd)	Paw	Paw	Denmark	Astrid Henning-Jensen	Danish
1959: (32nd)	The Village on the River	Dorp aan de rivier	Netherlands	Fons Rademakers	Dutch
1960 (33rd)	The Virgin Spring	Jungfrukällan	Sweden	Ingmar Bergman	Swedish (some parts in German)
1960: (33rd)	Kapò	Kapò	Italy	Gillo Pontecorvo	Italian
1960: (33rd)	La Vérité	La Vérité	France	Henri-Georges Clouzot	French
1960: (33rd)	Macario	Macario	Mexico	Roberto Gavaldón	Spanish
1960: (33rd)	The Ninth Circle	Deveti krug Девети круг	Yugoslavia	France Štiglic	Serbo-Croatian
1961 (34th)	Through a Glass Darkly	Såsom i en spegel	Sweden	Ingmar Bergman	Swedish
1961: (34th)	Harry and the Butler	Harry og kammertjeneren	Denmark	Bent Christensen	Danish
1961: (34th)	Immortal Love	Eien no hito 永遠の人	Japan	Keisuke Kinoshita	Japanese
1961: (34th)	The Important Man	Animas Trujano (El hombre importante) Ánimas Trujano (El hombre importante)	Mexico	Ismael Rodríguez	Spanish
1961: (34th)	Plácido	Plácido	Spain	Luis García Berlanga	Spanish
1962 (35th)	Sundays and Cybele	Les Dimanches de Ville d'Avray	France	Serge Bourguignon	French
1962: (35th)	Electra	Ilektra Ηλέκτρα	Greece	Michael Cacoyannis	Greek
1962: (35th)	The Four Days of Naples	Le quattro giornate di Napoli	Italy	Nanni Loy	Italian
1962: (35th)	Keeper of Promises (The Given Word)	O Pagador de Promessas	Brazil	Anselmo Duarte	Portuguese
1962: (35th)	Tlayucan	Tlayucan	Mexico	Luis Alcoriza	Spanish
1963 (36th)	Federico Fellini's 8½	08½ 8½	Italy	Federico Fellini	Italian (some parts in English, French & German)
1963: (36th)	Knife in the Water	Nóż w wodzie	Poland	Roman Polanski	Polish
1963: (36th)	Los Tarantos	Los Tarantos	Spain	Francisco Rovira Beleta	Spanish
1963: (36th)	The Red Lanterns	Ta Kokkina fanaria Τα κόκκινα φανάρια	Greece	Vasilis Georgiadis	Greek
1963: (36th)	Twin Sisters of Kyoto	Koto 古都	Japan	Noboru Nakamura	Japanese
1964 (37th)	Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow	Ieri, oggi, domani	Italy	Vittorio De Sica	Italian
1964: (37th)	Raven's End	Kvarteret Korpen	Sweden	Bo Widerberg	Swedish
1964: (37th)	Sallah	Sallah Shabati סאלח שבתי	Israel	Ephraim Kishon	Hebrew
1964: (37th)	The Umbrellas of Cherbourg	Les Parapluies de Cherbourg	France	Jacques Demy	French
1964: (37th)	Woman in the Dunes	Suna no onna 砂の女	Japan	Hiroshi Teshigahara	Japanese
1965 (38th)	The Shop on Main Street	Obchod na korze	Czechoslovakia	{co-directed by} Ján Kadár Elmar Klos	Slovak (some parts in German)
1965: (38th)	Blood on the Land	To Homa vaftike kokkino Το χώμα βάφτηκε κόκκινο	Greece	Vasilis Georgiadis	Greek
1965: (38th)	Dear John	Käre John	Sweden	Lars-Magnus Lindgren	Swedish
1965: (38th)	Kwaidan	Kaidan 怪談	Japan	Masaki Kobayashi	Japanese
1965: (38th)	Marriage Italian Style	Matrimonio all'italiana	Italy	Vittorio De Sica	Italian
1966 (39th)	A Man and a Woman	Un homme et une femme	France	Claude Lelouch	French
1966: (39th)	The Battle of Algiers	La Bataille d'Alger French: La Bataille d'Alger Italian: La battaglia di Algeri	Italy	Gillo Pontecorvo	French (some parts in Arabic, English & Italian)
1966: (39th)	Loves of a Blonde	Lásky jedné plavovlásky	Czechoslovakia	Miloš Forman	Czech
1966: (39th)	Pharaoh	Faraon	Poland	Jerzy Kawalerowicz	Polish
1966: (39th)	Three	Tri три	Yugoslavia	Aleksandar Petrović	Serbo-Croatian
1967 (40th)	Closely Watched Trains	Ostře sledované vlaky	Czechoslovakia	Jiří Menzel	Czech (some parts in German)
1967: (40th)	El Amor Brujo	El amor brujo	Spain	Francisco Rovira Beleta	Spanish
1967: (40th)	I Even Met Happy Gypsies	Skupljači perja Скупљачи перја	Yugoslavia	Aleksandar Petrović	Serbo-Croatian
1967: (40th)	Live for Life	Vivre pour vivre	France	Claude Lelouch	French
1967: (40th)	Portrait of Chieko	Chieko-sho 智恵子抄	Japan	Noboru Nakamura	Japanese
1968 (41st)	War and Peace	Voyna i mir Война и мир	Soviet Union	Sergei Bondarchuk	Russian
1968: (41st)	The Boys of Paul Street	A Pál-utcai fiúk	Hungary	Zoltán Fábri	Hungarian
1968: (41st)	The Firemen's Ball	Hoří, má panenko	Czechoslovakia	Miloš Forman	Czech
1968: (41st)	The Girl with the Pistol	La ragazza con la pistola	Italy	Mario Monicelli	Italian (some parts in English)
1968: (41st)	Stolen Kisses	Baisers volés	France	François Truffaut	French
1969 (42nd)	Z	Z	Algeria	Costa-Gavras	French
1969: (42nd)	Adalen '31 Ådalen '31	Adalen 31 Ådalen 31	Sweden	Bo Widerberg	Swedish
1969: (42nd)	The Battle of Neretva	Bitka na Neretvi Битка на Неретви	Yugoslavia	Veljko Bulajić	Serbo-Croatian (some parts in English)
1969: (42nd)	The Brothers Karamazov	Bratya Karamazovy Братья Карамазовы	Soviet Union	{co-directed by} Kirill Lavrov Ivan Pyryev Mikhail Ulyanov	Russian
1969: (42nd)	My Night with Maud [L]	Ma nuit chez Maud	France	Eric Rohmer	French
1970 (43rd)	Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion	Indagine su un cittadino al di sopra di ogni sospetto	Italy	Elio Petri	Italian
1970: (43rd)	First Love	Erste Liebe	Switzerland	Maximilian Schell	German
1970: (43rd)	Hoa-Binh	Hoa-Binh	France	Raoul Coutard	French
1970: (43rd)	Paix Sur Les Champs	Paix sur les champs	Belgium	Jacques Boigelot	French
1970: (43rd)	Tristana	Tristana	Spain	Luis Buñuel	Spanish
1971 (44th)	The Garden of the Finzi Continis	Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini	Italy	Vittorio De Sica	Italian
1971: (44th)	Dodes'ka-Den	Dodesukaden どですかでん	Japan	Akira Kurosawa	Japanese
1971: (44th)	The Emigrants	Utvandrarna	Sweden	Jan Troell	Swedish
1971: (44th)	The Policeman	Ha-Shoter Azulai השוטר אזולאי	Israel	Ephraim Kishon	Hebrew
1971: (44th)	Tchaikovsky	Chaykovskiy Чайковский	Soviet Union	Igor Talankin	Russian
1972 (45th)	The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie	Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie	France	Luis Buñuel	French (some parts in Spanish)
1972: (45th)	The Dawns Here Are Quiet	A zori zdes tikhie А зори здесь тихие	Soviet Union	Stanislav Rostotsky	Russian
1972: (45th)	I Love You Rosa	Ani Ohev Otach Rosa אני אוהב אותך רוזה	Israel	Moshé Mizrahi	Hebrew
1972: (45th)	My Dearest Señorita	Mi querida señorita	Spain	Jaime de Armiñán	Spanish
1972: (45th)	The New Land	Nybyggarna	Sweden	Jan Troell	Swedish (some parts in English)
1973 (46th)	Day for Night	La Nuit américaine	France	François Truffaut	French (some parts in English)
1973: (46th)	The House on Chelouche Street	Ha-Bayit Berechov Chelouche הבית ברחוב שלוש	Israel	Moshé Mizrahi	Hebrew
1973: (46th)	L'Invitation	L'Invitation	Switzerland	Claude Goretta	French
1973: (46th)	The Pedestrian	Der Fußgänger	Germany (West)	Maximilian Schell	German (some parts in English & French)
1973: (46th)	Turkish Delight	Turks Fruit	Netherlands	Paul Verhoeven	Dutch
1974 (47th)	Amarcord	Amarcord	Italy	Federico Fellini	Italian (some parts in Romagnolo)
1974: (47th)	Cats' Play	Macskajáték	Hungary	Károly Makk	Hungarian
1974: (47th)	The Deluge	Potop	Poland	Jerzy Hoffman	Polish
1974: (47th)	Lacombe, Lucien	Lacombe Lucien	France	Louis Malle	French (some parts in English & German)
1974: (47th)	The Truce	La tregua	Argentina	Sergio Renán	Spanish
1975 (48th)	Dersu Uzala	Dersu Uzala Дерсу Узала	Soviet Union	Akira Kurosawa	Russian
1975: (48th)	Land of Promise	Ziemia obiecana	Poland	Andrzej Wajda	Polish (some parts in German)
1975: (48th)	Letters from Marusia	Actas de Marusia	Mexico	Miguel Littín	Spanish
1975: (48th)	Sandakan No. 8	Sandakan hachibanshokan bohkyo サンダカン八番娼館 望郷	Japan	Kei Kumai	Japanese (some parts in Malay)
1975: (48th)	Scent of a Woman	Profumo di donna	Italy	Dino Risi	Italian
1976 (49th)	Black and White in Color	La Victoire en chantant [M]	Ivory Coast	Jean-Jacques Annaud	French
1976: (49th)	Cousin, Cousine	Cousin, cousine	France	Jean-Charles Tacchella	French
1976: (49th)	Jacob, the Liar	Jakob, der Lügner	Germany (East)	Frank Beyer	German
1976: (49th)	Nights and Days	Noce i dnie	Poland	Jerzy Antczak	Polish
1976: (49th)	Seven Beauties	Pasqualino Settebellezze	Italy	Lina Wertmüller	Italian
1977 (50th)	Madame Rosa	La Vie devant soi	France	Moshé Mizrahi	French
1977: (50th)	Iphigenia	Ifigeneia Ιφιγένεια	Greece	Michael Cacoyannis	Greek
1977: (50th)	Operation Thunderbolt	Mivtsa Yonatan מבצע יונתן	Israel	Menahem Golan	Hebrew (some parts in Arabic, English & German)
1977: (50th)	A Special Day	Una giornata particolare	Italy	Ettore Scola	Italian
1977: (50th)	That Obscure Object of Desire	Cet obscur objet du désir French: Cet obscur objet du désir Spanish: Ese oscuro objeto del deseo	Spain	Luis Buñuel	French (some parts in Spanish)
1978 (51st)	Get Out Your Handkerchiefs	Préparez vos mouchoirs	France	Bertrand Blier	French
1978: (51st)	The Glass Cell	Die gläserne Zelle	Germany (West)	Hans W. Geißendörfer	German
1978: (51st)	Hungarians	Magyarok	Hungary	Zoltán Fábri	Hungarian
1978: (51st)	Viva Italia!	I nuovi mostri	Italy	{co-directed by} Mario Monicelli Dino Risi Ettore Scola	Italian
1978: (51st)	White Bim Black Ear	Belyy Bim - Chyornoe ukho Белый Бим Чёрное ухо	Soviet Union	Stanislav Rostotsky	Russian
1979 (52nd)	The Tin Drum	Die Blechtrommel