Quick Shot: The Best Foreign Language Film Oscar

Oscar Awards

Age: Between 56 and 65 years old.

What do you mean by that? Between 1947 and 1955, the Academy presented Honorary Awards to the best foreign language films released in the United States. But it was only in 1956 that the category of Best Foreign Language film was exalted to proper category level.

I see. So who has been winning? It’s not a case of ‘who’, but ‘where’. Unlike other Academy Awards, the Best Foreign Language Film is not presented to a specific individual, but as an award for the submitting country.

Okay, then where has been winning? Europe has taken the award around 80% of the time. Out of the 63 awarded since 1947, 51 have been to European films, five to Asian films and three to African films.

More details, please! Italy comes top, with 13 wins and 27 nominations. France is second with 12 wins and 36 nominations, while Spain and Japan tie in third with 4 wins apiece.

And the other end of the scale? Israel holds the title of most nominations, nine, without a win.

Ouch. Wow, Israel is unlucky. Indeed, and not only for that. In 2007, Israel’s acclaimed indie
movie, The Band’s Visit, took the Israel Film Awards and the world’s film critics by storm. The
movie’s producers and Sony Pictures insisted that there was less than 50% English dialogue in the
film, but the Academy ruled that there was over 50%. So the movie was disqualified, as films where
the majority of the dialogue is in English cannot qualify for the Foreign Language Film Award.

So a 49% English dialogue movie is eligible, while 51% is not? Hasn’t this been controversial?
Yes, on both counts. Then again, this category has always been marked by controversy.

Ooh, go on. Staying with the eligibility rules, Ang Lee’s 2007 critical hit, Lust, Caution was
disqualified because too many of the film crew weren’t residents of the submitting country, Taiwan.

The one country, one film rule also causes upset, with critics saying it essentially penalizes a
county for having a bountiful year. A prime example of this is Spain in 2003, where the submitting
committee chose Mondays in the Sun, leaving Pedro Almodovar’s Talk to Her out in the cold.

Phew, complicated. Yep. A film may also be refused entry if the submitting country has exercised
insufficient artistic control over it. Uruguay’s A Place in the World was disqualified under this rule
in 1992 after it it had secured a nomination.

So they are- Hang on, I’m not finished! What constitutes a country has even been controversial. In
2002, Palestinian producer Humbert Balsan claimed the Academy said that they did not recognize
Palestine as a state, and that Divine Intervention could therefore not run for Best Foreign Language
film. However, it was allowed to run the following year.

In 2011, Puerto Rico was told that it could not submit an entry to the Foreign Language Film
category as the Academy decided that it is part of the United States, even though Puerto Rico’s
submissions had been accepted many times before.

The decision-making seems rather..whimsical. Frustrated contenders would agree and this
extends to the winners too. Its more of a shock when the favorite picture does win, with a list

of surprises longer than a Gwyneth Paltrow acceptance speech. In 2009, A Prophet lost out to
The Secret in their Eyes, Pan’s Labyrinth lost out to The Lives of Others in 2006, and 2004 saw
Downfall lose out to The Sea Inside. And that’s just the last decade.

Surely they’ve tried to tone down the controversy this year? Not quite. Several expected
contenders have been snubbed. Lebanon’s Where do we go now?, China’s The Flowers of War and
Hungary’s The Turin Horse have all been snapping up other awards for fun, and all failed to make
the final cut for the Academy Award.

So. The Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Controversial, controversial and, erm,
controversial.  That’s it! Top marks.

2 Responses to “ Quick Shot: The Best Foreign Language Film Oscar ”

1. stephen says:

   February 22, 2012 at 7:33 pm

   Fascinating article – great read! I thought the only controversy was on the red carpet, proven wrong! Shocking how contrary the making ‘process’ can be.

   Reply
2. Quick Shot: The Best Foreign Language Film Oscar | Pimsleur … « Blog filmów says:

   February 22, 2012 at 9:48 pm

   [...] Here is the original post: Quick Shot: The Best Foreign Language Film Oscar | Pimsleur … [...]

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