# List of Academy Award–winning foreign-language films

The following is a list of foreign-language films that have won an Academy Award.

## Criteria

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has given Academy Awards to foreign language films since 1945. The Academy defines a foreign language film as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. Films that meet these criteria are eligible for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. They can be nominated for awards in categories other than Best International Feature Film provided that they have been commercially released in Los Angeles County and comply with the special rules governing those categories. In addition, foreign-language films produced in the United States are not eligible for Best International Feature Film, but are eligible for awards in other categories.

## History

As of 2023, 27 foreign language films have won Academy Awards outside the Best International Feature Film category. The foreign language films with the most awards are Sweden's Fanny and Alexander, Taiwan's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, South Korea’s Parasite, and Germany’s All Quiet on the Western Front with four awards each, including the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Roma received ten Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, the highest number of nominations ever garnered for a foreign language film.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1956. The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via secret ballot to determine the five nominees for the award. Before the competitive award was created in 1956, the Board of Governors of the Academy voted on a film every year that was considered the best foreign language film released in the United States, and there were no submissions. These films were recipients of Academy Honorary Awards.

## Other categories

Films that are eligible for the Best International Feature Film category are able to compete for other Academy Awards if they had been commercially released in Los Angeles County and fulfill the requirements of the categories they are participating in. Among the foreign language films that have won Academy Awards outside the Best Foreign Language Film category, six have won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film while two, Shoeshine and Gate of Hell have received an Academy Honorary Award. Parasite is the only foreign film to win Best Picture so far although The Artist was the first silent film in French production to win Best Picture, but it was not submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film due to it being ineligible. Roma won the award because it was a co-production of United States and Mexico.
| Year (Ceremony) | Film title used in nomination | Original title | Category | Winner(s) | Country | Language(s) |
| 1945 (18th) | Marie-Louise | Marie-Louise | Writing (original screenplay) | Richard Schweizer | Switzerland | German |
| 1954 (27th) | Gate of Hell | 地獄門 | Costume Design (color) | Sanzo Wada | Japan | Japanese |
| 1956 (29th) | The Red Balloon | Le ballon rouge | Writing (original screenplay) | Albert Lamorisse | France | French |
| 1959 (32nd) | Serengeti Shall Not Die | Serengeti darf nicht sterben | Documentary Feature | Bernhard Grzimek | Germany | German |
| 1960 (33rd) | Never on Sunday | Poté tin Kyriakí(Ποτέ την Κυριακή) | Music (original song) | Manos Hadjidakis for "Never On Sunday" | Greece | Greece |
| 1961 (34th) | La Dolce Vita | La Dolce Vita | Costume Design (black-and-white) | Piero Gherardi | Italy | Italian, English, French, German |
| 1962 (35th) | Divorce Italian Style | Divorzio all'italiana | Writing (story and screenplay) | Ennio De Concini Alfredo Giannetti Pietro Germi | Italy | Italian |
| 1963 (36th) | 8½ | 8½ | Costume Design (black-and-white) | Piero Gherardi | Italy | Italian, English, French, German |
| 1966 (39th) | A Man and a Woman | Un homme et une femme | Writing (story and screenplay) | Claude Lelouch (story and screenplay) Pierre Uytterhoeven (screenplay) | France | French |
| 1969 (42nd) | Z | Z | Film Editing | Françoise Bonnot | Algeria | French |
| 1973 (46th) | Cries and Whispers | Viskningar och rop | Cinematography | Sven Nykvist | Sweden | Swedish |
| 1983 (56th) | Fanny and Alexander | Fanny och Alexander | Art Direction Cinematography Costume Design | Anna Asp (art direction) Sven Nykvist (cinematography) Marik Vos (costume design) | Sweden | Swedish, German, Yiddish, English |
| 1985 (58th) | Ran | 乱 | Costume Design | Emi Wada | Japan | Japanese |
| 1990 (63rd) | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac | Costume Design | Franca Squarciapino | France | French |
| 1995 (68th) | The Postman | Il postino | Music (original dramatic score) | Luis Enrique Bacalov | Italy | Italian, Spanish |
| 1998 (71st) | Life Is Beautiful | La vita è bella | Actor in a Leading Role Music (original dramatic score) | Roberto Benigni (best actor) Nicola Piovani (original dramatic score) | Italy | Italian, German, English |
| 2000 (73rd) | Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | 臥虎藏龍 | Art Direction Cinematography Music (original score) | Tim Yip (art direction) Peter Pau (cinematography) Tan Dun (original score) | Taiwan China Hong Kong United States | Mandarin |
| 2002 (75th) | Talk to Her | Hable con ella | Writing (original screenplay) | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain | Spanish |
| 2004 (77th) | The Motorcycle Diaries | Diarios de motocicleta | Music (original song) | Jorge Drexler for "Al otro lado del río" | Brazil Argentina Chile France Germany Peru United Kingdom United States | Quechua, Spanish |
| 2006 (79th) | Letters from Iwo Jima | Letters from Iwo Jima | Sound Editing | Bub Asman Alan Robert Murray | United States | Japanese, English |
| 2006 (79th) | Pan's Labyrinth | El laberinto del fauno | Art Direction Cinematography Makeup | Eugenio Caballero (art direction) Pilar Revuelta (set decoration) Guillermo Navarro (cinematography) David Martí (makeup) Montse Ribé (makeup) | Mexico Spain | Spanish |
| 2007 (80th) | La Vie en Rose | La Môme | Actress in a Leading Role Makeup | Marion Cotillard (actress) Jan Archibald (makeup) Didier Lavergne (makeup) | France United Kingdom Czech Republic | French |
| 2011 (84th) | The Artist | The Artist | Picture Director Actor in a Leading Role Music Costume Design | Thomas Langmann (producer) Michel Hazanavicius (director) Jean Dujardin (actor) Ludovic Bource (composer) Mark Bridges (costume design) | France | Silent film |
| 2018 (91st) | Roma | Roma | Director Cinematography | Alfonso Cuarón (director, cinematography) | Mexico | Spanish Mixtec |
| 2019 (92nd) | Parasite | 기생충 | Picture Director Original Screenplay | Kwak Sin-ae (picture) Bong Joon-ho (picture, director, screenplay) Han Jin-won (screenplay) | South Korea | Korean |
| 2022 (95th) | All Quiet on the Western Front | Im Westen nichts Neues | Cinematography Music Production Design | James Friend (cinematography) Christian M. Goldbeck (art direction) Ernestine Hipper (set decoration) Volker Bertelmann (music) | Germany | German, French |
| 2022 (95th) | RRR | RRR | Music (original song) | M. M. Keeravani (music) Chandrabose (lyrics) for "Naatu Naatu" | India | Telugu, English |
| 2023 (96th) | Godzilla Minus One | ゴジラ-1.0 | Visual Effects | Takashi Yamazaki Kiyoko Shibuya Masaki Takahashi Tatsuji Nojima | Japan | Japanese |
| 2023 (96th) | The Zone of Interest | The Zone of Interest | Sound | Tarn Willers Johnnie Burn | United Kingdom | German |
| 2023 (96th) | The Boy and the Heron | Kimitachi wa Dō Ikiru ka 君たちはどう生きるか | Animated Feature | Hayao Miyazaki (director) Toshio Suzuki (producer) | Japan | Japanese |
| 2023 (96th) | 20 Days in Mariupol | 20 днів у Маріуполі | Documentary Feature | Mstyslav Chernov (director and producer) Michelle Mizner (producer) Raney Aronson-Rath (producer) | Ukraine | Ukrainian, English, Russian |
| 2023 (96th) | Anatomy of a Fall | Anatomie d'une chute | Original Screenplay | Arthur Harari Justine Triet | France | French, English |