Best International Feature Film goes to…

The Oscars are due in just two days, on 26 April. Last year, a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Europe and the Americas, the South Korean film ‘Parasite’, directed by Bong Joon-ho, won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, but also the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. This was a historical moment: ‘Parasite’ was the first South Korean film to have been nominated in these categories, as well as the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

This year, there will be a total of 23 Academy Awards. Of those, the one I’m most excited about is the Oscar for Best International Feature Film (previously known as Best Foreign Language Film).

And the Oscar for the Best International Feature Film goes to…

So far, the most awarded foreign country is Italy (with 14 Oscars won), while France is the second most awarded one (12 Oscars), as well as the foreign country with the most nominations (37). However, since 2010, Denmark has been the most nominated country (5 times), whereas Iran the most awarded (twice).

Since 2006, a nine-film shortlist has been announced before the nominations, which then has been reduced to the five official nominees. This shortlist was then expanded from nine to ten in 2019, and from ten to fifteen in 2020.

The five nominees this year are: ‘Another Round’ (Denmark), ‘Better Days’ (Hong Kong), ‘Collective’ (Romania), ‘The Man Who Sold His Skin’ (Tunisia) and ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The ten films included in the shortlist but not in the nominations are: ‘Charlatan’ (Czech Republic), ‘Dear Comrades!’ (Russia), ‘Hope’ (Norway), ‘I’m No Longer Here’ (Mexico), ‘La Llorona’ (Guatemala), ‘The Mole Agent’ (Chile), ‘Night of the Kings’ (Ivory Coast), ‘A Sun’ (Taiwan), ‘Sun Children’ (Iran) and ‘Two of Us’ (France).

Today, whilst waiting to find out this year’s winners, I’d like to take the opportunity to combine two of my main interests, film/cinema and travelling/geography, and discuss 11 of the films that have been nominated for, or even won, an Oscar for Best International Feature Film in the last 11 years (since 2010, that is).

Dogtooth (Greece)

Nominated in 2010

My home country Greece has been nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film five times (but never won). The most recent nomination was in 2010 with ‘Dogtooth’ directed and co-written by Yorgos Lanthimos.

Since then, Lanthimos has written directed another Greek-language film (‘Alps’), as well as the English-language ‘The Lobster’ and ‘The Killing of a Sacred Deer’. In 2018, he directed (but not written) ‘The Favourite’, which was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

2. Amour (Austria)

Won in 2012

Although ‘Amour’ is an Austrian film, it is in French and is set in Paris. It tells the story of an elderly couple whose love is tested when one of them suffers a stroke. It was directed by German-born Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke.

3. The Great Beauty (Italy)

Won in 2013

Directed by Paolo Sorrentino, ‘The Great Beauty’ (‘La grande bellezza’) is the last one of the 14 Italian films that won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film. It is also the only Italian film that has been nominated in this category since 2010.

4. Ida (Poland)

Won in 2014

I watched ‘Ida’ at the 8th European Psychoanalytic Film Festival. Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski, ‘Ida’ tells the story of a young woman who orphaned during World War II. As she is about to take her vows to become a Catholic nun, she meets her aunt and finds out that her parents were in fact Jewish and were murdered during the war. The story takes place in the 1960s, and offers a rather different perspective to the Holocaust.

It is the only Polish film that has won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film, as well as one of the four Polish films nominated in the last ten years. Overall, Poland has been nominated in this category twelve times.

5. Leviathan (Russia)

Nominated in 2014

This was another film I watched at the 8th European Psychoanalytic Film Festival. Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev, this Russian critically acclaimed film was shot in the coastal town of Teriberka, in Murmansk Oblast, the part of Russia bordering the Lapland region in Northern Finland, and North-eastern Norway.

It is one of the two Russian films nominated for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in the last ten years.

6. Toni Erdmann (Germany)

Nominated in 2016

Directed by Maren Ade, ’Toni Erdmann’ takes us to Romania, where the protagonist tries to re-connect with his daughter.

It is one of the two German films nominated for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in the last ten years.

7. A Fantastic Woman (Chile)

Won in 2017

Directed by Sebastián Lelio, ’A Fantastic Woman’ (‘Una mujer fantástica’) tells the story of a transgender woman living in modern-day Santiago.

It is the only Chilean film that has won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film, as well as one of the two Chilean films nominated in the category (both so far and in the last ten years).

8. Roma (Mexico)

Won in 2018

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, ‘Roma’ is the only Mexican film that has won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film. It is set in the 1970s in the Colonia Roma neighbourhood of Mexico City. ‘Roma’ was filmed in colour but was then converted to black and white in post-production.

9. Shoplifters (Japan)

Nominated in 2018

‘Shoplifters’ bears a lot of similarities with the ‘Parasite’ that won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film the following year. Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, it tells the story of a group of people living in poverty in Tokyo.

10. Parasite (South Korea)

Won in 2019

‘Parasite’ tells the story of a poor South Korean family who tricks a wealthy family to employ them in various posts. It is the seventh feature film directed by Bong-Joon-ho, as well as the first of his films to gross over $100 million worldwide.

11. Pain and Glory (Spain)

Nominated in 2019

‘Pain and Glory’ (‘Dolor y gloria) is the latest feature film by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, whose filmography includes more than 20 feature films. Amongst those are the critically appraised ‘Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown’ (‘Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios’), which was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and the Oscar-winners ‘All About My Mother’ (‘Todo sobre mi madre’) and ‘Talk to Her’ (‘Hable con ella’). The former won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, whereas the latter won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

It stars Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz.