# List of French submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

France has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since the conception of the award in 1956. France has been one of the most successful countries in the world in this category, and more than half of their Oscar submissions have achieved Oscar nominations. As of October 2021, France has submitted 66 films for consideration. Of these, 38 have achieved Oscar nominations and nine have won the award, not including Honorary Awards.
The award is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue.
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was not created until 1956; however, between 1947 and 1955, the Academy presented Honorary Awards to the best foreign language films released in the United States. These awards were not competitive, as there were no nominees but simply a winner every year that was voted on by the Board of Governors of the Academy. Three French films received Honorary Awards during this period. For the 1956 Academy Awards, a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was created for non-English-speaking films, and has been given annually since.
The French submission is decided annually by the Centre national de la cinématographie, affiliated with the French Ministry of Culture.

## Submissions

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 award was created, 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.
France is the only country that has submitted a film every year since the creation of the award in 1956 and also the only country which has been nominated at more than half of the occasions where the award was given.
Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by France for review by the Academy. All submissions were primarily in French, with the notable exceptions of the 1959's winner Black Orpheus, which was a co-production with Brazil and shot in Portuguese; Mustang nominated in 2015, which was shot in Turkish; and Emilia Pérez nominated in 2024, which was shot in Spanish and English.
| Year (Ceremony) | Film title used in nomination | Original title | Director(s) | Result |
| 1948 (21st) | Monsieur Vincent | Monsieur Vincent | Maurice Cloche | Won Honorary Award |
| 1950 (23rd) | The Walls of Malapaga | Au-delà des grilles | René Clément | Won Honorary Award |
| 1952 (25th) | Forbidden Games | Jeux interdits | René Clément | Won Honorary Award |
| 1956 (29th) | Gervaise | Gervaise | René Clément | Nominated |
| 1957 (30th) | Gates of Paris | Porte des Lilas | René Clair | Nominated |
| 1958 (31st) | My Uncle | Mon Oncle | Jacques Tati | Won Academy Award |
| 1959 (32nd) | Black Orpheus | Orfeu Negro | Marcel Camus | Won Academy Award |
| 1960 (33rd) | La Vérité | La Vérité | Henri-Georges Clouzot | Nominated |
| 1961 (34th) | Last Year at Marienbad | L'année dernière à Marienbad | Alain Resnais | Not nominated |
| 1962 (35th) | Sundays and Cybèle | Les dimanches de ville d'Avray | Serge Bourguignon | Won Academy Award |
| 1963 (36th) | The Fire Within | Le feu follet | Louis Malle | Not nominated |
| 1964 (37th) | The Umbrellas of Cherbourg | Les Parapluies de Cherbourg | Jacques Demy | Nominated |
| 1965 (38th) | Pierrot le Fou | Pierrot le Fou | Jean-Luc Godard | Not nominated |
| 1966 (39th) | A Man and a Woman | Un homme et une femme | Claude Lelouch | Won Academy Award |
| 1967 (40th) | Live for Life | Vivre Pour Vivre | Claude Lelouch | Nominated |
| 1968 (41st) | Stolen Kisses | Baisers volés | François Truffaut | Nominated |
| 1969 (42nd) | My Night with Maud | Ma nuit chez Maud | Éric Rohmer | Nominated |
| 1970 (43rd) | Hoa-Binh | Hoa-Binh | Raoul Coutard | Nominated |
| 1971 (44th) | Ramparts of Clay | Remparts d'argile | Jean-Louis Bertuccelli | Not nominated |
| 1972 (45th) | The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie | Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie | Luis Buñuel | Won Academy Award |
| 1973 (46th) | Day for Night | La Nuit américaine | François Truffaut | Won Academy Award |
| 1974 (47th) | Lacombe, Lucien | Lacombe, Lucien | Louis Malle | Nominated |
| 1975 (48th) | India Song | India Song | Marguerite Duras | Not nominated |
| 1976 (49th) | Cousin, cousine | Cousin, cousine | Jean-Charles Tacchella | Nominated |
| 1977 (50th) | Madame Rosa | La Vie devant soi | Moshé Mizrahi | Won Academy Award |
| 1978 (51st) | Get Out Your Handkerchiefs | Préparez vos mouchoirs | Bertrand Blier | Won Academy Award |
| 1979 (52nd) | A Simple Story | Une histoire simple | Claude Sautet | Nominated |
| 1980 (53rd) | The Last Metro | Le Dernier Métro | François Truffaut | Nominated |
| 1981 (54th) | Diva | Diva | Jean-Jacques Beineix | Not nominated |
| 1982 (55th) | Coup de Torchon | Coup de Torchon | Bertrand Tavernier | Nominated |
| 1983 (56th) | Entre Nous | Coup de foudre | Diane Kurys | Nominated |
| 1984 (57th) | So Long, Stooge | Tchao Pantin | Claude Berri | Not nominated |
| 1985 (58th) | Three Men and a Cradle | Trois hommes et un couffin | Coline Serreau | Nominated |
| 1986 (59th) | Betty Blue | 37°2 le matin | Jean-Jacques Beineix | Nominated |
| 1987 (60th) | Au revoir les enfants | Au revoir les enfants | Louis Malle | Nominated |
| 1988 (61st) | The Reader | La Lectrice | Michel Deville | Not nominated |
| 1989 (62nd) | Camille Claudel | Camille Claudel | Bruno Nuytten | Nominated |
| 1990 (63rd) | Cyrano de Bergerac | Cyrano de Bergerac | Jean-Paul Rappeneau | Nominated |
| 1991 (64th) | Van Gogh | Van Gogh | Maurice Pialat | Not nominated |
| 1992 (65th) | Indochine | Indochine | Régis Wargnier | Won Academy Award |
| 1993 (66th) | Germinal | Germinal | Claude Berri | Not nominated |
| 1994 (67th) | Wild Reeds | Les roseaux sauvages | André Téchiné | Not nominated |
| 1995 (68th) | French Twist | Gazon maudit | Josiane Balasko | Not nominated |
| 1996 (69th) | Ridicule | Ridicule | Patrice Leconte | Nominated |
| 1997 (70th) | Western | Western | Manuel Poirier | Not nominated |
| 1998 (71st) | The Dreamlife of Angels | La vie rêvée des anges | Erick Zonca | Not nominated |
| 1999 (72nd) | East/West | Est-Ouest | Régis Wargnier | Nominated |
| 2000 (73rd) | The Taste of Others | Le goût des autres | Agnès Jaoui | Nominated |
| 2001 (74th) | Amélie | Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Nominated |
| 2002 (75th) | 8 Women | 8 femmes | François Ozon | Not nominated |
| 2003 (76th) | Bon Voyage | Bon Voyage | Jean-Paul Rappeneau | Not nominated |
| 2004 (77th) | The Chorus | Les Choristes | Christophe Barratier | Nominated |
| 2005 (78th) | Joyeux Noël | Joyeux Noël | Christian Carion | Nominated |
| 2006 (79th) | Avenue Montaigne | Fauteuils d'orchestre | Danièle Thompson | Made shortlist |
| 2007 (80th) | Persepolis | Persepolis | Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi | Not nominated |
| 2008 (81st) | The Class | Entre les murs | Laurent Cantet | Nominated |
| 2009 (82nd) | A Prophet | Un prophète | Jacques Audiard | Nominated |
| 2010 (83rd) | Of Gods and Men | Des hommes et des dieux | Xavier Beauvois | Not nominated |
| 2011 (84th) | Declaration of War | La Guerre est déclarée | Valérie Donzelli | Not nominated |
| 2012 (85th) | The Intouchables | Intouchables | Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache | Made shortlist |
| 2013 (86th) | Renoir | Renoir | Gilles Bourdos | Not nominated |
| 2014 (87th) | Saint Laurent | Saint Laurent | Bertrand Bonello | Not nominated |
| 2015 (88th) | Mustang | Mustang | Deniz Gamze Ergüven | Nominated |
| 2016 (89th) | Elle | Elle | Paul Verhoeven | Not nominated |
| 2017 (90th) | BPM (Beats per Minute) | 120 battements par minute | Robin Campillo | Not nominated |
| 2018 (91st) | Memoir of War | La douleur | Emmanuel Finkiel | Not nominated |
| 2019 (92nd) | Les Misérables | Les Misérables | Ladj Ly | Nominated |
| 2020 (93rd) | Two of Us | Deux | Filippo Meneghetti | Made shortlist |
| 2021 (94th) | Titane | Titane | Julia Ducournau | Not nominated |
| 2022 (95th) | Saint Omer | Saint Omer | Alice Diop | Made shortlist |
| 2023 (96th) | The Taste of Things | La Passion de Dodin Bouffant | Tran Anh Hung | Made shortlist |
| 2024 (97th) | Emilia Pérez | Emilia Pérez | Jacques Audiard | Nominated |

## Shortlisted films

Every year since 2015, France has announced a list of finalists that varied in number over the years (from 3 to 5 films) before announcing its official Oscar nominee. The following films have been shortlisted by the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée:
| 2015 | Dheepan · Marguerite · The Measure of a Man · Summertime |
| 2016 | Cézanne and I · Frantz · The Innocents |
| 2017 | Barbara · Redoubtable |
| 2018 | Climax · Custody · The Four Sisters · Lady J |
| 2019 | Portrait of a Lady on Fire · Proxima |
| 2020 | Cuties · DNA · Gagarine · Summer of 85 |
| 2021 | BAC Nord · Happening |
| 2022 | Full Time · Paris Memories · One Fine Morning · The Worst Ones |
| 2023 | Anatomy of a Fall · The Animal Kingdom · On the Wandering Paths · Sons of Ramses |
| 2024 | All We Imagine as Light · The Count of Monte Cristo · Misericordia |