101 minutes.

An old man lost in steppe and his grandson's search for him. From the director of the brilliant Kelin, which was nearly nominated in 2010, making the finalist list.

not selected but considered: The Student (Cannes 2012), loosely based on Crime & Punishment, Harmony Lessons (Berlin 2013), which looks at the increasingly global issue of high-school bullying anda Harmony Lessons has the buzz. 

83 minutes. Latvian. Childhood Crime Drama.

A young boy enters a life of petty crime while trying to hide it from his mother.

Not selected: the basketball blockbuster Dream Team 1935, about Latvia's participation in the European Basketball championships, which is hoping for an international English-language release.

92 minutes. Arabic.

65 minutes. Lithuanian. Documentary.

This is a collection of conversations with children and teens about God and human relations, love and loneliness.

96 minutes
French, English, and Luxembourgish. Crime Thriller

A cop takes a final case before he retires (uh-oh... that never goes well) investigating the death of a fellow cop. 

105 minutes. Spanish. Crime Drama.

a young girl and a policeman and the drug trade. This won Best Director at Cannes

Not Selected: Mexico's 14 finalists were... Passionate Pancho Villa, Cinco de Maya: the battle, Tooth for Tooth, The Award, Dream of Lu, Between Night and Day, Zebra, The Golden Cage, Early life and Sabina Rivas brief, The Walls Speak, The Catfish Unusual, Looks Multiple, I Do Not Want to Sleep Alone, No Refunds and Tlatelolco Summer of '68

??? minutes. English, Italian & Romanian.

Adoption drama.

96 minutes
Crime Drama

American star Michael Madsen is in this one. I don't have much info yet

115 minutes
Arabic & French.
Crime Drama

"A fictional account of the lives of the men responsible for the suicide bombings in Casablanca in 2003"

85 minutes
Gay Drama

A romance between a dancer and her best friend puts the two young women at odds with Nepali traditions of morality

.113 minutes
Dutch. Allegorical Psychological Thriller

A vagrant wreaks havoc on the lives of an upscale couple was in competition at Cannes.

??? Minutes. Maori & English. Drama

A medicine woman holds a secret about identity which both protects and destroys.

Romance. Family Drama.

A Nprwegian Pakistani single mother begins a new relationship.

Not selected: The other finalists wereThe Pioneer (REVIEWED), and It's Only Make Believe.

120 minutes. Urdu & Punjabi. Comedy

Three young men try to change their lives.This is only Pakistan's third submission ever. Their last was in 1963!

96 minutes. Arabic & Hebrew. Drama

From the director of Paradise Now which was Oscar nominated in this category. 

95 min.
Spanish.

Not Selected: Chicama about a teacher assigned to a remote school in the mountains. It swept the inaugural Peruvian film awards last fall.

93 minutes. Filipino, Tagalog & Hebrew.

Not Selected: they were considering 7 other films including Brillante Mendoza's Thy Womb which has won several Best Actress awards

127 minutes. Polish.
Political Biopic.

This is sometimes referred to as "Walesa: Man of Hope". Oscar winner Andrej Wajda's latest is a biopic about the beloved Nobel Peace Prize winner and ex-President and events leading up to a peaceful revolution in the 1970s

151 minutes. Portuguese, French & English. Historical Epic / War Drama

This film details a battle in 1810 and its aftermath.

16 films were originally considered. Portugal has the longest track record of submissions without a nomination

112 minutes
Romanian. Drama

This Golden Bear winning film stars the acclaimed Luminita Gheorghiu who previously appeared in two of the country's most important exports (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and The Death of Mr Lazarescu). Despite the country's super hot acclaim with critics, they've yet to be nominated.

135 minutes Russian.

tba

98 minutes. Arabic. Drama

First Submission!
One of the more high profile titles since it's currently in release from Sony Pictures Classics. It's about a 10 year old free spirited girl in the suburbs always pushing boundaries. She wants a bike to compete with a neighborhood boy. Everyone loves a good backstory: it's the first submission from Saudi Arabia and their first film ever directed by a woman.

112 minutes
Ensemble Drama

This drama, which played at Sundance, focuses on five survivors of a "tragic heroic act" and revisits them 12 years later. (The poster almost looks like a still from The Hurt Locker).

Note: This director's previous film The Trap made the January finalist list but was not an Oscar nominee

99 minute
Mandarin, Tagalog & English. Family Drama

The story of the difficult relationship between a maid from the The Philippines and the family she works for. Her relationship to the young son makes the mother jealous.

Discussed on the TIFF Podcast

90 minutes.

This is about a neo nazi whose half brother is a gypsy. 

??? min. Afrikaans, Tsotsitaal

107 minutes
Korean. Crime Drama

This movie is about a young criminal reunited with his mother who believed him dead 

96 minutes. Spanish

A young boy is sent to live with his grandpa in Argentina.

104 minutes. Swedish & Croatian. Drama

An immigrant is laid off from her factory job in Sweden and faced with tough choices. The tag line is "you don't have a chance, take it." suggesting this is pretty dark (or darkly comic?) stuff.

95 minutes. German, English & Mandarin. Documentary

This doc is about bee colonies in different countries 

111 minutes. Mandarin. Psychological / Horror Thriller

This film starring martial arts icon Jimmy Wang Yu looks at an isolated village, and a man who develops a bond with the spirit possessing his body

86 min. Thai, English.
Horror

I can't recall any country sending a film this traditionally horror/slasher related. Here's a review from a friend of TFE

138 minutes
WW II Drama

two sickly poets fall in love during a Turkish famine in 1941

95 minutes. Russian. Biopic

This is about the master director Sergei Parajanov -- you can read more about him here -- who was eccentric nonconformist and imprisoned during his life in Russia

Thank You
A.D., Ali, Guy, Irvin, Ivan, Ilya, Krister, Patrick, and Yonatan

Did not submit this year K-Z
We thought Kenya would be here with "Something Necessary". And no entry from Vietnam again.

115 minutes. Filipino & Tagalog. Crime & Family Drama

A poor man in the rice fields moves his family to the big city for hope of a better life.(The director was previously nominated for his short film Cash Back in 2004)

80 minutes. Spanish. Animated

A ten year old girl is given the weirdest punishment ever after a playground scuffle.

90 minutes
Family Drama

This film with a very moody trailer is about a family with a deaf child.

Not selected: the gay box office hit Blue, Not So Pink