21+ countries have entered films in the expanding international Oscar race.
Cannes and Venice winners headline several major international Oscar submissions.
Pakistan makes history with its first documentary entry in the category.
International Oscar Submissions: Cuba, Denmark, Vietnam, Italy, France And More Join The Race
From Cannes winners to debut features and documentaries, this year's international feature race brings together a wide range of cinema.
Summary
The International Oscar submissions for the 99th Academy Awards are taking shape, with films from across Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America entering the race. The final submissions are due by October 1, while the Academy is scheduled to announce its 15-film shortlist on December 15. Nominations will follow on January 21.
International Oscar submissions include major festival winners
Several entries arrive with significant festival recognition. Romania has submitted Fjord, Cristian Mungiu's Cannes Palme d'Or winner starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve. Germany has entered Sandra Wollner's Everytime, which won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes, while France has selected Andrey Zvyagintsev's Minotaur, winner of the Cannes Grand Prix.
Denmark's Woman Unknown, directed by May el-Toukhy, also enters the race after winning the Golden Lion at Venice, with Mathilde Arcel taking the Coppa Volpi for best actress. Poland has selected Paweł Pawlikowski's Fatherland, which won him the best director award at Cannes. Spain's La Bola Negra, meanwhile, shared Cannes' best director prize.
Cuba, Vietnam, Italy and more enter the Oscars
Cuba has submitted Carlos Larrazabal's Malecón, which follows a former prisoner returning to Havana and becoming entangled in its criminal underworld. Vietnam has entered Spirit Guardians: The Last Secret of the First Emperor, a historical action-fantasy starring Johnny Trí Nguyễn and Tuấn Trần.
Italy's entry is Paolo Strippoli's supernatural thriller The Spiral, starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Jasmine Trinca. India has selected the Marathi-language Gondhal, while Bangladesh has entered Roid, Mejbaur Rahman Sumon's rural drama following his acclaimed film Hawa.
Other notable submissions include Pakistan's Hanging by a Wire, the country's first documentary entry in the category, Kenya's One Woman, One Bra, South Africa's Variations on a Theme, Sri Lanka's Riverstone, Malaysia's The Fox King, Indonesia's Four Seasons in Java and Nepal's Elephants in the Fog.
The wider list also features entries from Hong Kong, Jordan, the Philippines, Singapore, Iraq, Morocco, Israel, Japan, Cambodia, Australia, South Korea, Turkey, Switzerland, Lithuania and Mongolia.
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A new Academy Awards rule also allows films that win the top prize at Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Sundance, Busan or Toronto to enter the international feature race without national committee backing. The shortlist will contain 15 films before Academy members vote on the final nominees.
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