Here Is Every Movie In Contention For The Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award

By Jacob Hall/Oct. 9, 2015 9:30 am EST

Complaining about the Academy Awards is the national pastime of many movie fans, but let’s not forget that they can do good. Sometimes. After all, the Foreign Language Film Oscar helps bring international cinema to the attention of casual filmgoers who otherwise wouldn’t venture outside of Hollywood filmmaking. Like with any awards category, great films get snubbed and the lesser entries often triumph over masterpieces (we’re still sore about Ruben Ostlund’s brilliant Force Majeure not even getting a nomination last year), but at least this category represents a window into a much wider world of filmmaking.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the full list of every movie eligible for the Foreign Language Film Oscar this year. The full list, numbering 82 entries, can be scanned at your leisure after the jump. The Academy Awards are run by all kinds of weird, frequently arbitrary rules and regulations. Chief among them is the submission process for the Foreign Language Film award, which only allows one submission per nation. That means a country must select a single film to submit to the Oscars. If a country produces two bonafide masterpieces in one year, too bad. They have to pick one. If the film they do choose doesn’t get one of the five official nominations, too bad. Maybe they should have selected another movie. The Oscars are a weird thing.

Anyway, we won’t lie to you – we haven’t seen all of the submitted films. Not even close. In fact, many of these movies will never see the light of day outside their home nation. We’ve even missed some of the obvious critical darlings that have been making the festival rounds, like Tobias Lindholm’s A War, Roy Andersson’s A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, and Miguel Gomes’ Arabian Nights. However, we have seen a few from the list, so let’s examine their chances in the grand scheme, shall we? First up is Austria’s submission, Goodnight Mommy, from directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. This is hilarious. Not because Goodnight Mommy is funny (it isn’t) or because it’s bad (it most definitely isn’t), but because it’s a weird, gruesome horror movie filled with brutal violence and unpleasant, frequently unexplained menace. It’s the exact kind of movie that doesn’t get nominated for Oscars, just with subtitles. We don’t know if Austria is deliberately trolling the Academy with this one, but we love it. Go see Goodnight Mommy. Jaco Van Dormael’s The Brand New Testament, Belgium’s entry, feels like a dark horse. Although it played very well at this year’s Fantastic Fest (where it took home the top comedy prize), it’s a weird mix of quirky comedy, observational drama, and giddy blasphemy that will turn off as many people as it wins over. It’s too odd, too unique, to win that Oscar gold.The Club, from Chilean director Pablo Larraín, is another tough sell, but for different reasons. The film follows a group of exiled pedophile priests who share a home and a quiet existence… until things go wrong. And it gets real unpleasant. It’s a tough watch, but it’s the kind of tough watch that could actually win over the Academy. They like to award punishing movies like this sometimes.

Speaking of punishing movies, László Nemes’ Son of Saul is not just our early prediction for a guaranteed nomination – it’s our early prediction for the big winner. First of all, it’s a holocaust drama and as Kate Winslet once observed, those always attract attention at the Oscars. However, it’s also a harrowing and technically astonishing film that transports the audience into the living hell of a concentration camp in ways never seen before. It’s the kind of movie that makes you lose hope in humanity, but it’s also one of the best movies you’ll see in 2015. Don’t let the Norwegian language fool you: Roar Uthaug’s The Wave is a disaster movie that’s as silly and ridiculous as a Roland Emmerich movie, just on a smaller scale. It’s a totally entertaining movie, but it’s also goofy as all get-out. It’s hard to imagine it coming close to an Oscar, but more power to Norway for submitting this thing. Finally, that brings us to Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin, the winner of the Best Director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and one of the most beautiful movies ever shot. Every frame is a painting and so on and so forth. And yet, for a movie about a trained killer being sent on a morally shady mission just to wring the final drops of compassion out of her soul, it’s slow. Very slow. Like, “did someone pause the movie?” slow. It’ll get a nomination for sure, but we’re not sure about a victory.

Anyway, the nominees for the 88th annual Academy Awards will be announced on January 14, 2016. The ceremony itself will air on February 29, 2016. The full list of nominees can be found right under this sentence. Afghanistan, “Utopia,” Hassan Nazer, director Albania, “Bota,” Iris Elezi, Thomas Logoreci, directors Algeria, “Twilight of Shadows,” Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina, director Argentina, “The Clan,” Pablo Trapero, director Australia, “Arrows of the Thunder Dragon,” Greg Sneddon, director Austria, “Goodnight Mommy,” Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala, directors Bangladesh, “Jalal’s Story,” Abu Shahed Emon, director Belgium, “The Brand New Testament,” Jaco Van Dormael, director Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Our Everyday Story,” Ines Tanovi?, director Brazil, “The Second Mother,” Anna Muylaert, director Bulgaria, “The Judgment,” Stephan Komandarev, director Cambodia, “The Last Reel,” Sotho Kulikar, director Canada, “Félix and Meira,” Maxime Giroux, director Chile, “The Club,” Pablo Larraín, director China, “Go Away Mr. Tumor,” Han Yan, director Colombia, “Embrace of the Serpent,” Ciro Guerra, director Costa Rica, “Imprisoned,” Esteban Ramírez, director Croatia, “The High Sun,” Dalibor Matani?, director Czech Republic, “Home Care,” Slavek Horak, director

Denmark, “A War,” Tobias Lindholm, director Dominican Republic, “Sand Dollars,” Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas, directors Estonia, “1944,” Elmo Nüganen, director Ethiopia, “Lamb,” Yared Zeleke, director Finland, “The Fencer,” Klaus Härö, director France, “Mustang,” Deniz Gamze Ergüven, director Georgia, “Moira,” Levan Tutberidze, director Germany, “Labyrinth of Lies,” Giulio Ricciarelli, director Greece, “Xenia,” Panos H. Koutras, director Guatemala, “Ixcanul,” Jayro Bustamante, director Hong Kong, “To the Fore,” Dante Lam, director Hungary, “Son of Saul,” László Nemes, director Iceland, “Rams,” Grímur Hákonarson, director India, “Court,” Chaitanya Tamhane, director Iran, “Muhammad: The Messenger of God,” Majid Majidi, director Iraq, “Memories on Stone,” Shawkat Amin Korki, director Ireland, “Viva,” Paddy Breathnach, director Israel, “Baba Joon,” Yuval Delshad, director Italy, “Don’t Be Bad,” Claudio Caligari, director Ivory Coast, “Run,” Philippe Lacôte, director Japan, “100 Yen Love,” Masaharu Take, director Jordan, “Theeb,” Naji Abu Nowar, director Kazakhstan, “Stranger,” Yermek Tursunov, director Kosovo, “Babai,” Visar Morina, director Kyrgyzstan, “Heavenly Nomadic,” Mirlan Abdykalykov, director

Latvia, “Modris,” Juris Kursietis, director Lebanon, “Void,” Naji Bechara, Jad Beyrouthy, Zeina Makki, Tarek Korkomaz, Christelle Ighniades, Maria Abdel Karim, Salim Haber, directors Lithuania, “The Summer of Sangaile,” Alanté Kavaïté, director Luxembourg, “Baby (A)lone,” Donato Rotunno, director Macedonia, “Honey Night,” Ivo Trajkov, director Malaysia, “Men Who Save the World,” Liew Seng Tat, director Mexico, “600 Miles,” Gabriel Ripstein, director Montenegro, “You Carry Me,” Ivona Juka, director Morocco, “Aida,” Driss Mrini, director Nepal, “Talakjung vs Tulke,” Basnet Nischal, director Netherlands, “The Paradise Suite,” Joost van Ginkel, director Norway, “The Wave,” Roar Uthaug, director Pakistan, “Moor,” Jami, director Palestine, “The Wanted 18,” Amer Shomali, Paul Cowan, directors Paraguay, “Cloudy Times,” Arami Ullón, director Peru, “NN,” Héctor Gálvez, director Philippines, “Heneral Luna,” Jerrold Tarog, director Poland, “11 Minutes,” Jerzy Skolimowski, director Portugal, “Arabian Nights – Volume 2, The Desolate One,” Miguel Gomes, director Romania, “Aferim!” Radu Jude, director Russia, “Sunstroke,” Nikita Mikhalkov, director Serbia, “Enclave,” Goran Radovanovi?, director Singapore, “7 Letters,” Royston Tan, Kelvin Tong, Eric Khoo, Jack Neo, Tan Pin Pin, Boo Junfeng, K. Rajagopal, directors

Slovakia, “Goat,” Ivan Ostrochovský, director Slovenia, “The Tree,” Sonja Prosenc, director South Africa, “The Two of Us,” Ernest Nkosi, director South Korea, “The Throne,” Lee Joon-ik, director Spain, “Flowers,” Jon Garaño, Jose Mari Goenaga, directors Sweden, “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence,” Roy Andersson, director Switzerland, “Iraqi Odyssey,” Samir, director Taiwan, “The Assassin,” Hou Hsiao-hsien, director Thailand, “How to Win at Checkers (Every Time),” Josh Kim, director Turkey, “Sivas,” Kaan Müjdeci, director United Kingdom, “Under Milk Wood,” Kevin Allen, director Uruguay, “A Moonless Night,” Germán Tejeira, director Venezuela, “Gone with the River,” Mario Crespo, director Vietnam, “Jackpot,” Dustin Nguyen, director

Here Is Every Movie In Contention For The Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award

By Jacob Hall/Oct. 9, 2015 9:30 am EST

The Academy Awards are run by all kinds of weird, frequently arbitrary rules and regulations. Chief among them is the submission process for the Foreign Language Film award, which only allows one submission per nation. That means a country must select a single film to submit to the Oscars. If a country produces two bonafide masterpieces in one year, too bad. They have to pick one. If the film they do choose doesn’t get one of the five official nominations, too bad. Maybe they should have selected another movie. The Oscars are a weird thing.

First up is Austria’s submission, Goodnight Mommy, from directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. This is hilarious. Not because Goodnight Mommy is funny (it isn’t) or because it’s bad (it most definitely isn’t), but because it’s a weird, gruesome horror movie filled with brutal violence and unpleasant, frequently unexplained menace. It’s the exact kind of movie that doesn’t get nominated for Oscars, just with subtitles. We don’t know if Austria is deliberately trolling the Academy with this one, but we love it. Go see Goodnight Mommy.

Jaco Van Dormael’s The Brand New Testament, Belgium’s entry, feels like a dark horse. Although it played very well at this year’s Fantastic Fest (where it took home the top comedy prize), it’s a weird mix of quirky comedy, observational drama, and giddy blasphemy that will turn off as many people as it wins over. It’s too odd, too unique, to win that Oscar gold.The Club, from Chilean director Pablo Larraín, is another tough sell, but for different reasons. The film follows a group of exiled pedophile priests who share a home and a quiet existence… until things go wrong. And it gets real unpleasant. It’s a tough watch, but it’s the kind of tough watch that could actually win over the Academy. They like to award punishing movies like this sometimes.

Don’t let the Norwegian language fool you: Roar Uthaug’s The Wave is a disaster movie that’s as silly and ridiculous as a Roland Emmerich movie, just on a smaller scale. It’s a totally entertaining movie, but it’s also goofy as all get-out. It’s hard to imagine it coming close to an Oscar, but more power to Norway for submitting this thing.

Finally, that brings us to Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin, the winner of the Best Director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and one of the most beautiful movies ever shot. Every frame is a painting and so on and so forth. And yet, for a movie about a trained killer being sent on a morally shady mission just to wring the final drops of compassion out of her soul, it’s slow. Very slow. Like, “did someone pause the movie?” slow. It’ll get a nomination for sure, but we’re not sure about a victory.

Afghanistan, “Utopia,” Hassan Nazer, director

Albania, “Bota,” Iris Elezi, Thomas Logoreci, directors

Algeria, “Twilight of Shadows,” Mohamed Lakhdar Hamina, director

Argentina, “The Clan,” Pablo Trapero, director

Australia, “Arrows of the Thunder Dragon,” Greg Sneddon, director

Austria, “Goodnight Mommy,” Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala, directors

Bangladesh, “Jalal’s Story,” Abu Shahed Emon, director

Belgium, “The Brand New Testament,” Jaco Van Dormael, director

Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Our Everyday Story,” Ines Tanovi?, director

Brazil, “The Second Mother,” Anna Muylaert, director

Bulgaria, “The Judgment,” Stephan Komandarev, director

Cambodia, “The Last Reel,” Sotho Kulikar, director

Canada, “Félix and Meira,” Maxime Giroux, director

Chile, “The Club,” Pablo Larraín, director

China, “Go Away Mr. Tumor,” Han Yan, director

Colombia, “Embrace of the Serpent,” Ciro Guerra, director

Costa Rica, “Imprisoned,” Esteban Ramírez, director

Croatia, “The High Sun,” Dalibor Matani?, director

Czech Republic, “Home Care,” Slavek Horak, director

Denmark, “A War,” Tobias Lindholm, director

Dominican Republic, “Sand Dollars,” Laura Amelia Guzmán, Israel Cárdenas, directors

Estonia, “1944,” Elmo Nüganen, director

Ethiopia, “Lamb,” Yared Zeleke, director

Finland, “The Fencer,” Klaus Härö, director

France, “Mustang,” Deniz Gamze Ergüven, director

Georgia, “Moira,” Levan Tutberidze, director

Germany, “Labyrinth of Lies,” Giulio Ricciarelli, director

Greece, “Xenia,” Panos H. Koutras, director

Guatemala, “Ixcanul,” Jayro Bustamante, director

Hong Kong, “To the Fore,” Dante Lam, director

Hungary, “Son of Saul,” László Nemes, director

Iceland, “Rams,” Grímur Hákonarson, director

India, “Court,” Chaitanya Tamhane, director

Iran, “Muhammad: The Messenger of God,” Majid Majidi, director

Iraq, “Memories on Stone,” Shawkat Amin Korki, director

Ireland, “Viva,” Paddy Breathnach, director

Israel, “Baba Joon,” Yuval Delshad, director

Italy, “Don’t Be Bad,” Claudio Caligari, director

Ivory Coast, “Run,” Philippe Lacôte, director

Japan, “100 Yen Love,” Masaharu Take, director

Jordan, “Theeb,” Naji Abu Nowar, director

Kazakhstan, “Stranger,” Yermek Tursunov, director

Kosovo, “Babai,” Visar Morina, director

Kyrgyzstan, “Heavenly Nomadic,” Mirlan Abdykalykov, director

Latvia, “Modris,” Juris Kursietis, director

Lebanon, “Void,” Naji Bechara, Jad Beyrouthy, Zeina Makki, Tarek Korkomaz, Christelle Ighniades, Maria Abdel Karim, Salim Haber, directors

Lithuania, “The Summer of Sangaile,” Alanté Kavaïté, director

Luxembourg, “Baby (A)lone,” Donato Rotunno, director

Macedonia, “Honey Night,” Ivo Trajkov, director

Malaysia, “Men Who Save the World,” Liew Seng Tat, director

Mexico, “600 Miles,” Gabriel Ripstein, director

Montenegro, “You Carry Me,” Ivona Juka, director

Morocco, “Aida,” Driss Mrini, director

Nepal, “Talakjung vs Tulke,” Basnet Nischal, director

Netherlands, “The Paradise Suite,” Joost van Ginkel, director

Norway, “The Wave,” Roar Uthaug, director

Pakistan, “Moor,” Jami, director

Palestine, “The Wanted 18,” Amer Shomali, Paul Cowan, directors

Paraguay, “Cloudy Times,” Arami Ullón, director

Peru, “NN,” Héctor Gálvez, director

Philippines, “Heneral Luna,” Jerrold Tarog, director

Poland, “11 Minutes,” Jerzy Skolimowski, director

Portugal, “Arabian Nights – Volume 2, The Desolate One,” Miguel Gomes, director

Romania, “Aferim!” Radu Jude, director

Russia, “Sunstroke,” Nikita Mikhalkov, director

Serbia, “Enclave,” Goran Radovanovi?, director

Singapore, “7 Letters,” Royston Tan, Kelvin Tong, Eric Khoo, Jack Neo, Tan Pin Pin, Boo Junfeng, K. Rajagopal, directors

Slovakia, “Goat,” Ivan Ostrochovský, director

Slovenia, “The Tree,” Sonja Prosenc, director

South Africa, “The Two of Us,” Ernest Nkosi, director

South Korea, “The Throne,” Lee Joon-ik, director

Spain, “Flowers,” Jon Garaño, Jose Mari Goenaga, directors

Sweden, “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence,” Roy Andersson, director

Switzerland, “Iraqi Odyssey,” Samir, director

Taiwan, “The Assassin,” Hou Hsiao-hsien, director

Thailand, “How to Win at Checkers (Every Time),” Josh Kim, director

Turkey, “Sivas,” Kaan Müjdeci, director

United Kingdom, “Under Milk Wood,” Kevin Allen, director

Uruguay, “A Moonless Night,” Germán Tejeira, director

Venezuela, “Gone with the River,” Mario Crespo, director

Vietnam, “Jackpot,” Dustin Nguyen, director