The Nominees Are...
See the Foreign Film Submission Pages (links below) for a lot more details... 
WE INTERVIEWED EVERY NOMINEE

final predictions

Foreign Film Submission Pages
80 Films Competed

Afghanistan to Finland 
23 Submissions
France to Morocco 
29 Submissions
Nepal to Vietnam
28 Submissions

Finalists that weren't nominated: Finland Fencer, Germany's Labyrinth of Lies, Ireland's Viva, and Belgium's The Brand New Testament

What's Missing: Critically speaking Taiwan's The Assassin and Sweden's A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence are snubs. I'm personally more surprised that Iceland's Rams didn't make it and disappointed to not see Brazil's The Second Mother in the mix.

Predictions: Of the 11 films I predicted as solidly in the running for the 9 finalists spots I scored a disappointing 6/9 missing Jordan, Belgium, and Finland.

Statistics for the Foreign Film Race

21st Century Top Dozen Countries (2000-2014)
In terms of Foreign Film Oscar play thus far. 

Top 20 All Time Leaders (1947-2014)
Category officially started in 1956 but 8 honoraries were presented beforehand 

1. GERMANY - 5 nominations / 2 wins
2. AUSTRIA - 3 nominations / 2 wins
3. FRANCE - 6 nominations / 0 wins
France hasn't been nominated since 2009 -- it's by far the longest they've gone without a nomination so if that keeps up they'll fall down the chart! Get it together France. You're still within reach of Italy for the #1 all time country with Oscar
4. [tie]  CANADA / DENMARK - 4 nominations / 1 win
6. [tie] ARGENTINA / POLAND - 3 nominations / 1 win
8. [tie] MEXICO / ISRAEL - 4 nominations / 0 wins
10. [tie] SOUTH AFRICA / JAPAN / ITALY - 2 nominations / 1 win
 

Runner up is BELGIUM - 3 nominations but no wins

OSCAR IS RESISTANT TO...
Asian cinema. China, Japan, Hong Kong and India, for example, are prolific strong film industries but they are rarely nominated for Foreign Language Oscars though most of the Asian countries submit regularly. Taiwan has the best record among Asian film industries with 3 nominations and a win but every one of those is an Ang Lee picture (!!!). Japan was once popular with Oscar but that had more to do with the legendary Akira Kurosawa than with his home country.

The countries that have received the most nominations without a win to date are

1. Israel (10 noms)
2. Mexico (8 nom)
3. Belgium (7 noms)
4. [TIE] Norway and Greece (with 5 each)

Never Nominated
The countries that have submitted the most w/out receiving a single nomination are Portugal (32 times), Egypt and Romania (30), The Philippines and South Korea (27), Bulgaria (26), Venezuela (25), Colombia and Croatia (24), Serbia, Turkey (22) and Thailand (21 times). Good luck to them all...and quickly!

CURRENT ARTICLES ON FOREIGN FILM ARE LOCATED HERE.

1. ITALY - 28 noms / 11 wins / 3 honoraries
2. FRANCE - 36 noms / 9 wins / 3 honoraries
3. SPAIN - 19 nominations / 4 wins 
4. GERMANY (+ EAST/WEST) - 18 noms / 3 wins
5. JAPAN - 15 noms / 1 win / 3 honoraries
6. RUSSIA (+ Russian films submitted by USSR) - 14 noms / 4 wins
7. SWEDEN - 14 nominations / 3 wins
8. DENMARK - 13 nominations / 3 wins
9. CZECH REPUBLIC (+ CZECHOSLOVOKIA's stats) - 8 noms / 3 wins
10. THE NETHERLANDS - 7 noms / 3 wins
11. POLAND - 10 nominations / 1 win
12. ISRAEL - 10 nominations / 0 wins
13. ARGENTINA - 7 noms / 2 wins
14. HUNGARY - 8 nominations / 1 win
15. CANADA - 7 nominations / 1 win
16. MEXICO -8 nominations / 0 wins
17. SWITZERLAND - 5 noms / 2 wins
18. BELGIUM - 7 nominations / 0 wins
19. AUSTRIA - 4 noms / 2 wins
20. ALGERIA - 5 noms / 1 win
    Honorable Mention goes to...
    YUGOSLAVIA - 6 noms / 0 wins.
    Yugoslavia no longer exists but unlike the Former Soviet Union or the East Germany & West Germany situation, it's nearly impossible to attribute their Oscar nominees to any of the current countries since the separations which began in the early 90s were unusually painful / confusing / name-change / war laden - Current countries that were once part of Yugoslavia that now submit to the Oscars individualy are: Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Slovenia, and Montenegro. (Slovakia, which is easy for Westerners to confuse with Slovenia because of the name, was actually part of the former Czechoslovokia)

2014
IDA
Poland

1 additional nomination
(Cinematography) 

2012
AMOUR
Austria 

4 additional noms
(including Best Picture) 

2011
A SEPARATION
Iran

1 additional nomination (Screenplay)

2004
THE SEA INSIDE
Spain 

1 additional nomination (Makeup)

2003
BARBARIAN INVASIONS
Canada 

1 additional nomination
(Screenplay) 

2000
CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON
Taiwan 

9 additional noms (including Best Picture)