BHUTAN
first nomination!

A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM

REVIEW | INTERVIEW

DENMARK

14 noms | 4 wins | 2 finalists

FLEE

REVIEW

ITALY
29 noms | 11 wins | 3 honoraries | 1 finalist

THE HAND OF GOD

 REVIEW | ITALIAN GUIDE 

JAPAN
14 noms | 2nd win | 3 honoraries

DRIVE MY CAR 

WINNER

REVIEW 

NORWAY
6 noms | 2 finalists

WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

REVIEW | TOP TEN LIST | 10 BIGGEST NORWEGIAN HITS OF ALL TIME

Predicted just 3/5. I correctly deduced that Bhutan's Lunana would surprise but took a big risk predicting a Flee shutout which didn't pay off.

The most high profile omissions were Iran's A Hero (from two time winner of this category Asghar Farhadi), and two films which had been increasing in buzz these last couple of week's Finland's Compartment No 6, and Belgium's Playground. The other finalists were: Panama's Plaza Catedral, Kosovo's Hive, Spain's The Good Boss, Germany's I'm Your Man, Mexico's  Prayers for the Stolen, Austria's  Great Freedom and  Iceland's Lamb.

92 films competed for this finalist list which is not quite a record (It was originally 93, the all-time record, but Jordan withdrew their submission). The most high profile shut-outs for the finalist list belonged to Cannes winner Titane (France), Venice winner Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Romania) and Memoria (Colombia). You can see all 92 films on the submission charts.

Chart 1 ALBANIA TO GREECE (34 SUBMISSIONS)
Chart 2 HAITI TO NORWAY (29 SUBMISSIONS)
Chart 3 PALESTINE TO YEMEN (29 SUBMISSIONS)

 • It's the biggest Norwegian language hit of all time in the US (though details are not available on two popular 1950s releases)

• This film concludes the "Oslo Trilogy" though it's only a loose trilogy as Reprise, Oslo August 31st are unrelated in characters and story

Most nominations for a foreign film

Roma (2018) and Crouching Tiger's share this record with 10 nominations each. 

Roma went on to three wins and Crouching four but neither film took Best Picture.

Most competitive wins in the category by director

Federico Fellini won 4 Oscars for Italy: La Strada (1956), Nights of Cabiria (1957), 8 1/2 (1963) and Amarcord (1974). In fact, he won every time he was nominated witin this category. Italy submitted his work three other times but Satyricon, Roma, and And the Ship Sails On were not nominated.

Most nominated country

France leads with 38 nominees (they were also given 3 honoraries before nominations began proper in 1956). Their most recent win was a long time ago, though: Indochine (1992) starring Catherine Deneuve. MORE ON FRANCE & OSCAR HERE

Most winning country

Italy leads with 14 wins (3 of which were honoraries). Some of the most famous films among their winners are The Bicycle Thief (1949), 8 1/2 (1963), The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971), Cinema Paradiso (1989), and Life is Beautiful (1998)

Most popular country with Oscar at this very moment

That would be Denmark which has been nominated 7 times and won twice in the past 12 years. In addition to the 7 nominees recently they've had 2 finalists.

Runner up right now? Poland with 4 noms and a win this past decade

First foreign language film nominated for Best Picture

Grand Illusion (1938). But Oscar didn't start giving statues to foreign films until 11 years later and foreign films didn't get their own competitive category until 1956

Most influential snub of the past two decades

You have the horror of the snubbing of Romania's Palme d'or winner 4 Weeks, 3 Months and 2 Days (2007) to thank for the creation of the Academy's Executive Committee. Nominations have been so much better ever since!

First foreign language film to win an acting Oscar

Italy's Two Women (1961) won Best Actress for Sophia Loren who was, not unimportantly, already a major star in the US. But Italy did not submit her vehicle for Foreign Film, choosing Michelangelo Antonioni's La Notte instead (which was not nominatd)

First country to break through Oscar's midcentury France/Italy/Japan obsession

For the first 12 years of foreign-language film honors only France, Italy, or Japan were ever honored. Sweden was the first country to break up that strangehold with back to back Ingmar Bergman wins for The Virgin Spring (1960) and Through a Glass Darkly (1961)

First foreign language film to win any Oscar

Switzerland's Marie-Louise (1944) won Best Screenplay, years before the foreign film category began.

First foreign language film winner to win more than one Oscar

Japan's Gate of Hell (1954) won the Honorary for Foreign Film and also took home Costume Design. Costume Design is the category with the most wins for foreign-language films (7 in total)... Runner up is Original Screenplay (6 wins including Parasite last year). And there's a two way tie for third place: Cinematography, and Score (with 5 wins in each)

Only directors of foreign film nominees to go on to direct a Best Picture winner

Czech director Milos Forman for Loves of a Blonde (1965)/ Fireman's Ball (1967) + One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)/ Amadeus (1984) was the first to do it. Two Mexican filmmakers have followed suit: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Amores Perros (2000)/Biutiful (2010) + Birdman (2014) and Guillermo del Toro for Pan's Labyrinth (2006) + Shape of Water (2017)

Only Bong Joon-ho has done both simultaneously (with Parasite, 2019)

Only Best International Film winners to also win Best Director

Bong Joon-ho (Parasite for South Korea) and Alfonso Cuarón (Roma for Mexico) are the only directors to accomplish this feat and both were very recent.

It's worth noting that Ang Lee (Taiwan) has won the Best Director category twice but curiously neither time was that win connected to either a Best Picture Winner or a Best International Film winner.