Best International Film Winners (previously Foreign Language)

Academy Award Winners for Best Foreign Language Film

Between 1947 and 1955, the Academy presented Honorary Awards to the best foreign language films released in the United States. These awards, however, were not handed out on a regular basis (no award was given in 1953), and were not competitive since there were no nominees but simply one winning film per year.

The Best Foreign Language Film Award was created for the 1956 Academy Awards, a competitive Award of Merit for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since then. Italy is the most awarded country with 14 awards followed by France with 12.

The following are the Honorary Award winners between 1947 and 1955 (followed by my rating):

1947  Italy Shoeshine – Vittorio De Sica ★★★★

1948  France Monsieur Vincent – Maurice Cloche ★★★

1949  Italy Bicycle Thieves – Vittorio De Sica ★★★★★

1950  Italy/France The Walls of Malapaga – René Clément ★★★

1951  Japan Rashomon – Akira Kurosawa ★★★★

1952  France Forbidden Games – René Clément ★★★★

1953  No award was given

1954  Japan Gate of Hell – Teinosuke Kinugasa ★★★★

1955  Japan Samurai, The Legend of Musashi – Hiroshi Inagaki ★★★★


The following are the Best Foreign Language Film winners after 1956 (followed by my rating):

1956  Italy La Strada – Federico Fellini ★★★★

1957  Italy Nights of Cabiria – Federico Fellini ★★★★★

1958  France My Uncle – Jacques Tati ★★★★★



1959  France Black Orpheus – Marcel Camus ★★★★★

1960  Sweden The Virgin Spring – Ingmar Bergman ★★★★★

1961  Sweden Through a Glass Darkly – Ingmar Bergman ★★★★

1962  France Sundays and Cybèle – Serge Bourguignon ★★★

1963  Italy 8½ – Federico Fellini ★★★★★

1964  Italy Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow – Vittorio De Sica ★★★



1965  Czechoslovakia The Shop on Main Street – Ján Kadár & Elmar Klos ★★★★★

1966  France A Man and a Woman – Claude Lelouch ★★★★

1967  Czechoslovakia Closely Watched Trains – Jiří Menzel ★★★★

1968  Soviet Union War and Peace – Sergei Bondarchuk ★★★★

1969  Algeria Z – Costa-Gavras  ★★★★

1970  Italy Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion – Elio Petri ★★★★★

1971  Italy The Garden of the Finzi Continis – Vittorio De Sica ★★★★★

1972  France The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie – Luis Buñuel ★★★★★

1973  France Day for Night – François Truffaut ★★★★★

1974  Italy Amarcord – Federico Fellini ★★★★★

1975  Soviet Union Dersu Uzala – Akira Kurosawa ★★★

1976  Ivory Coast Black and White in Color – Jean-Jacques Annaud ★★★

1977  France Madame Rosa – Moshé Mizrahi ★★★★

1978  France Get Out Your Handkerchiefs – Bertrand Blier ★★★★

1979  Germany The Tin Drum – Volker Schlöndorff ★★★★★

1980  Soviet Union Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears – Vladimir Menshov ★★★

1981  Hungary Mephisto – István Szabó ★★★★

1982  Spain Volver a Empezar (To Begin Again) – José Luis Garci ★★★★

1983  Sweden Fanny and Alexander – Ingmar Bergman ★★★★★

1984  Switzerland Dangerous Moves – Richard Dembo ★★

1985  Argentina The Official Story – Luis Puenzo ★★★★

1986  Netherlands The Assault – Fons Rademakers ★★★

1987  Denmark Babette's Feast – Gabriel Axel ★★★★

1988  Denmark Pelle the Conqueror – Bille August ★★★★

1989  Italy Cinema Paradiso – Giuseppe Tornatore ★★★★★

1990  Switzerland Journey of Hope – Xavier Koller ★★★★

1991  Italy Mediterraneo – Gabriele Salvatores ★★★★

1992  France Indochine – Régis Wargnier ★★★★

1993  Spain Belle Époque – Fernando Trueba ★★★★★

1994  Russia Burnt by the Sun – Nikita Mikhalkov ★★★★★

1995  Netherlands Antonia's Line – Marleen Gorris ★★★

1996  Czech Republic Kolya – Jan Svěrák ★★★★★

1997  Netherlands Character – Mike van Diem ★★★★

 1998  Italy Life Is Beautiful – Roberto Benigni ★★★★★

1999  Spain All About My Mother – Pedro Almodóvar ★★★★★

2000  Taiwan Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Ang Lee ★★★★★

2001  Bosnia & Herzegovina No Man's Land – Danis Tanović ★★★

2002  Germany Nowhere in Africa – Caroline Link ★★★★

2003  Canada The Barbarian Invasions – Denys Arcand ★★★★★

2004  Spain The Sea Inside – Alejandro Amenábar ★★★★

2005  South Africa Tsotsi – Gavin Hood ★★★★

2006  Germany The Lives of Others – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck ★★★★★

2007  Austria The Counterfeiters – Stefan Ruzowitzky ★★★

2008  Japan Departures – Yōjirō Takita ★★★★★

2009  Argentina The Secret in Their Eyes – Juan J. Campanella ★★★★

2010  Denmark In a Better World – Susanne Bier ★★★★

2011  Iran A Separation – Asghar Farhadi ★★★★★

2012  Austria Amour – Michael Haneke ★★★★

2013  Italy The Great Beauty – Paolo Sorrentino ★★★★★

2014  Poland Ida – Paweł Pawlikowski ★★★★

2015  Hungary Son of Saul – László Nemes ★★★★

2016  Iran The Salesman – Asghar Farhadi ★★★★

                                                                                               

2017  Chile A Fantastic Woman – Sebastián Lelio ★★★

2018  Mexico Roma – Alfonso Cuarón ★★★★★

2019  South Korea Parasite – Bong Joon-ho ★★★★★