Oscars International Race Kicks Off With More Than 100 Entries for the First Time Ever

The Oscar race for Best International Feature Film kicked off this week with over 100 films vying for the prestigious award, marking the first time in history that more than 100 entries have been submitted. Within the first week, 103 films had been announced as submissions from various countries, including three winners of top awards at the Sundance, Berlin, and Toronto film festivals.

These three films joined the 100 submissions from individual countries, bringing the total to 103. However, not all of these films have been vetted by the Academy yet, as they must meet certain requirements such as being at least 50% in a language other than English, having a theatrical release during the eligibility period, and having sufficient creative control from the submitting country.

Over the past five years, an average of more than three films per year have been either withdrawn or deemed ineligible, with the highest number of ineligible films being six last year. Despite this, this year's total of eligible films is expected to surpass the previous record of 93, which was set in 2020 and matched in 2022. This increase in eligible films is due to a new rule that allows seven additional films to qualify by winning festival awards.

These include the Sundance world narrative and world documentary winners, as well as films from the Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto, and Busan film festivals.

This year's race is particularly diverse, with films from countries such as Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Palestine, Poland, Romania, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

Some of the most high-profile films include Austria's "Rose," Belgium's "Coward," Denmark's "Woman Unknown," France's "Minotaur," Germany's "Everytime," Japan's "All of a Sudden," Palestine's "Citizen Osama," Poland's "Fatherland," Romania's "Fjord," South Korea's "Possible Love," and Spain's "La Bola Negra."