Oscars 2019 Category Breakdown: Best International Feature
Here’s how this works: every day leading up to the Oscars, I break down each of the 24 categories. The goal is to both familiarize everyone with the category itself (how it works, what its history is and how you go about figuring out what’s gonna win) while also making it easier to reference when I write my giant article with picks and everything. A lot of the leg work is already here. But really, the goal is to see if there’s anything to look for leading into Oscar night that could be a shortcut to me picking the category.
What we do is — I give you all the winners of the category throughout history, go over all the recent trends if there are any, discuss the precursors and whether or not they matter, and then we talk about this year’s category and how we got to it, and then just look at where we are and rank the nominees in terms of their likelihood of winning (at the current moment in time. Of course, things can and will change going into the ceremony). It’s all pretty simple. I’ve done this every year. Everyone should know the drill.
We begin with Best International Feature, which is the stupid new name for Best Foreign Language Film, a change they made to make it sound more inclusive and positive, rather than as the dismissive category for foreigners. Problem is — a name means jack shit unless you’re actually gonna work to make it feel like it means more. Plus also, the first time they have that name, we have the biggest lock of the night and a category that’s totally meaningless because we already know what’s gonna win.
Year | Best Foreign Language Film Winners | Other Nominees |
1947 | Shoe-Shine | None. They just announced a winner. |
1948 | Monsieur Vincent | None. They just announced a winner. |
1949 | The Bicycle Thief | None. They just announced a winner. |
1950 | The Walls of Malpaga | None. They just announced a winner. |
1951 | Rashomon | None. They just announced a winner. |
1952 | Forbidden Games | None. They just announced a winner. |
1953 | No Award Given. | No Category. |
1954 | Gate of Hell | None. They just announced a winner. |
1955 | Samurai, The Legend of Musashi | None. They just announced a winner. |
1956 | La Strada | The Captain of Köpernick
Gervaise Harp of Burma Qivitoq |
1957 | Nights of Cabiria | The Devil Came at Night
Gates of Paris Mother India Nine Lives |
1958 | Mon Oncle | Arms and the Man
La Venganza The Road a Year Long The Usual Unidentified Theives |
1959 | Black Orpheus | The Bridge
The Great War Paw The Village on the River |
1960 | The Virgin Spring | Kapo
Le Vérité Macario The Ninth Circle |
1961 | Through a Glass Darkly | Harry and the Butler
Immortal Love The Immortal Man Placido |
1962 | Sundays and Cybele | Electra
The Four Days of Naples Keeper of Promises (The Given Word) Tlayucan |
1963 | 8½ | Knife in the Water
Los Tarantos The Red Lanterns Twin Sisters of Kyoto |
1964 | Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow | Raven’s End
Sallah The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Woman in the Dunes |
1965 | The Shop on Main Street | Blood on the Land
Dear John Kwaidan Marriage Italian Style |
1966 | A Man and a Woman | The Battle of Algiers
Loves of a Blonde Pharaoh Three |
1967 | Closely Watched Trains | El Amor Brujo
I Even Met Happy Gypsies Live for Life Portrait of Chieko |
1968 | War and Peace | The Boys of Paul Street
The Firemen’s Ball The Girl with the Pistol Stolen Kisses |
1969 | Z | Adalen ‘31
The Battle of Neretva The Brothers Karamazov My Night with Maud |
1970 | Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion | First Love
Hoa-Binh Paix Sur Les Champs Tristana |
1971 | The Garden of the Finzi Continis | Dodes’ka-Den
The Emigrants The Policeman Tchaikovsky |
1972 | The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie | The Dawns Here Are Quiet
I Love You Rosa My Dearest Señorita The New Land |
1973 | Day for Night | The House on Chelouche Street
L’Invitation The Pedestrian Turkish Delight |
1974 | Amarcord | Cats’ Play
The Deluge Lacombe, Lucien The Truce |
1975 | Dersu Uzala | Letters from Marusia
The Promised Land Sandakan No. 8 Scent of a Woman |
1976 | Black and White in Color | Cousin, Cousine
Jacob, the Liar Nights and Days Seven Beauties |
1977 | Madame Rosa | Iphigenia
Operation Thunderbolt A Special Day That Obscure Object of Desire |
1978 | Get Out Your Handkerchiefs | The Glass Cell
Hungarians Viva Italia! White Bim Black Ear |
1979 | The Tin Drum | The Maids of Wilko
Mama Turns a Hundred A Simple Story To Forget Venice |
1980 | Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears | Confidence
Kagemusha The Last Metro The Nest |
1981 | Mephisto | The Boat is Full
Man of Iron Muddy Water Three Brothers |
1982 | Vovler a Empezar (“To Begin Again”) | Alsino and the Condor
Coup de Torchon (“Clean Slate”) |
1983 | Fanny and Alexander | Carmen
Entre Nous Job’s Revolt Le Bal |
1984 | Dangerous Moves | Beyond the Walls
Camila Double Feature Wartime Romance |
1985 | The Official Story | Angry Harvest
Colonel Redl Three Men and a Cradle When Father Was Away on Business |
1986 | The Assault | Betty Blue
The Deline of the American Empire My Sweet Little Village ‘38’ |
1987 | Babette’s Feast | Au Revoir Les Enfants
Course Completed The Family Pathfinder |
1988 | Pelle the Conqueror | Hanussen
The Music Teacher Salaam Bombay! Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown |
1989 | Cinema Paradiso | Camille Claudel
Jesus of Montreal Waltzing Regitze What Happened to Santiago |
1990 | Journey of Hope | Cyrano de Bergerac
Ju Dou The Nasty Girl Open Doors |
1991 | Mediterraneo | Children of Nature
The Elementary School The Ox Raise the Red Lantern |
1992 | Indochine | Close to Eden
Daens A Place in the World Schtonk! |
1993 | Belle Époque | Farewell My Concubine
Hedd Wyn The Scent of Green Papaya The Wedding Banquet |
1994 | Burnt by the Sun | Before the Rain
Eat Drink Man Woman Farinelli: Il Castrato Strawberry and Chocolate |
1995 | Antonia’s Line | All Things Fair
Dust of Life O Quatrilho The Star Maker |
1996 | Kolya | A Chef in Love
The Other Side of Sunday Prisoner of the Mountains Ridicule |
1997 | Character | Beyond Silence
Four Days in September Secrets of the Heart The Thief |
1998 | Life is Beautiful | Central Station
Children of Heaven The Grandfather Tango |
1999 | All About My Mother | Caravan
East-West Solomon and Gaenor Under the Sun |
2000 | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | Amores Perros
Divided We Fall Everybody Famous! The Taste of Others |
2001 | No Man’s Land | Amélie
Elling Lagaan Son of the Bride |
2002 | Nowhere in Africa | The Crime of Father Amaro
Hero The Man Without a Past Zus & Zo |
2003 | The Barbarian Invasions | Evil
The Twilight Samurai Twin Sisters Zelary |
2004 | The Sea Inside | As It Is in Heaven
The Chorus Downfall Yesterday |
2005 | Tsotsi | Don’t Tell
Joyeux Noël Paradise Now Sophie Scholl – The Final Days |
2006 | The Lives of Others | After the Wedding
Days of Glory Pan’s Labyrinth Water |
2007 | The Counterfeiters | 12
Beaufort Katyn Mongol |
2008 | Departures | The Baader Meinhof Complex
The Class Revanche Waltz with Bashir |
2009 | The Secret in Their Eyes | Ajami
The Milk of Sorrow A Prophet The White Ribbon |
2010 | In a Better World | Biutiful
Dogtooth Incendies Outside the Law |
2011 | A Separation | Bullhead
Footnote In Darkness Monsieur Lazhar |
2012 | Amour | Kon Tiki
No A Royal Affair War Witch |
2013 | The Great Beauty | The Broken Circle Breakdown
The Hunt The Missing Picture Omar |
2014 | Ida | Leviathan
Tangerines Timbuktu Wild Tales |
2015 | Son of Saul | Embrace of the Serpent
Mustang Theeb A War |
2016 | The Salesman | Land of Mine
A Man Called Ove Tanna Toni Erdmann |
2017 | A Fantastic Woman | The Insult
Loveless On Body and Soul The Square |
2018 | Roma | Capernaum
Cold War Never Look Away Shoplifters |
It’s Foreign Language Film. There’s no methodology here. They have a shortlist, they pick five, usually you can guess the winner just by looking at them or at least have a great idea of what the favorites are. It’s been a while since we didn’t have a clear favorite for the category. One year in recent memory there was a favorite but then the tide turned politically and the other choice became the clear winner. Most of the time you just know. And this year, you really know.
Best International Feature
Corpus Christi
Honeyland
Pain and Glory
Parasite
Put it this way — in the history of Best Picture, whenever a foreign language film has been nominated in that category and been nominated in this category in the same year, it’s won.
Here’s the list of foreign language films nominated for Best Picture:
- Grand Illusion, 1938
- Z, 1969
- The Emigrants, 1972
- Cries and Whispers, 1973
- Il Postino, 1995
- Life is Beautiful, 1998
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000
- Letters from Iwo Jima, 2006
- Amour, 2012
- Roma, 2018
- Parasite, 2019
Letters from Iwo Jima is American but in a foreign language, and this category didn’t exist when Grand Illusion was nominated. The Emigrants was nominated in this category in 1971 but was nominated for Best Picture in 1972, after it had lost, strangely. Cries and Whispers and Il Postino were not nominated in this category at all. Of the rest — Z, Life Is Beautiful, Crouching Tiger, Amour and Roma — all of them won this category. We didn’t need that statistic, but now you have it. In case you were thinking of trying some fuckery.
Rankings:
5. Corpus Christi — It’s the one that no one knows. They only sent it out to Academy members this past weekend (I guess they figured it would get nominated). Hard to see this as anything other than the fifth choice, especially when you see all the factors working for all the other nominees.
4. Honeyland — It’s nominated in Documentary Feature as well. Being nominated in two categories, clearly some people liked it. However, to the voting body at large… here’s a foreign film nominated in two categories. What reason does that give them to vote for it here and not there? And what’s to get people to eve see it as compared to the other three? Maybe you can make a case for this as third choice, but definitely not above that. I don’t see any reason to think this pulls enough votes in any one single category to be a serious contender for the win.
3. Les Misérables — You could say this is fourth, but it’s no lower than that and no higher than this. I think this has a higher profile than Honeyland to the general voting body. It’s out now, I’ve seen trailers for this in front of big movies, Amazon is putting it out. Amazon is advertising this all over their website. And the title is something you know, so you’re gonna be at least a little intrigued about what it is. I think this is the third choice. I think this will get votes. I don’t think it’ll get enough votes, but it’ll get some votes.
2. Pain and Glory — It’s got a Best Actor nomination and it’s Pedro Almodovar. Until something else wins a precursor, this is the de facto second choice. It’ll get more views, therefore it’s liable to get more votes. It can never be the #1 choice because it’s not nominated for five other awards including Best Picture. But it’s clearly the second choice.
1. Parasite — There is no way you’re not calling this the favorite until it loses. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Production Design. A film like this has never lost in this category. You’re taking this all the way to the end, and maybe precursors will change and maybe you wanna try to make that argument on the night. Which will be stupid, but maybe you’ll make it. But until that night, and even as you make it, you’re not gonna say that this isn’t the favorite and the most likely film to win.
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