# Guldbagge Award for Best Foreign Film

The Guldbagge for Best Foreign Film is a Swedish film award presented annually by the Swedish Film Institute (SFI) as part of the Guldbagge Awards (Swedish: "Guldbaggen").
The category was discontinued, after four years of evaluation, as of the 58th gala, in 2023. In the last years it was called Best International Film.

## Winners and nominees

Each Guldbagge Awards ceremony is listed chronologically below along with the winner of the Guldbagge Award for Best Foreign Film and the director associated with the award. Before 1991 the awards did not announce nominees, only winners. In the columns under the winner of each award are the other nominees for best foreign film, which are listed from 1991 and forward.

### 1980s

| Year | Film | Original title(s) | Country | Director(s) | Language(s) |
| 1987 (23rd) | Bagdad Cafe‡ | Out of Rosenheim | Germany (West) | Percy Adlon | German, English |
| 1988 (24th) | — (no award given) | — (no award given) | — (no award given) | — (no award given) | — (no award given) |
| 1989 (25th) | A World Apart‡ | A World Apart‡ | {co-production} United Kingdom Zimbabwe | Chris Menges | English |

### 1990s

| Year | Film | Original title(s) | Country | Director(s) | Language(s) |
| 1990 (26th) | Time of the Gypsies‡ | Dom za vešanje Дом за вешање | Yugoslavia | Emir Kusturica | Romani, Serbo-Croatian & Italian |
| 1991 (27th) | Monsieur Hire‡ | Monsieur Hire‡ | France | Patrice Leconte | French |
| 1991 (27th) | The Double Life of Véronique | La double vie de Véronique | {co-production} France Norway Poland | Krzysztof Kieślowski | French & Polish |
| 1991 (27th) | The Fisher King | The Fisher King | United States | Terry Gilliam | English |
| 1992 (28th) | Husbands and Wives‡ | Husbands and Wives‡ | United States | Woody Allen | English |
| 1992 (28th) | Raise the Red Lantern | Dà Hóng Dēnglong Gāogāo Guà 大紅燈籠高高掛 | {co-production} China Hong Kong Taiwan | Zhang Yimou | Mandarin |
| 1992 (28th) | Fried Green Tomatoes | Fried Green Tomatoes | United States | Jon Avnet | English |
| 1993 (29th) | The Piano‡ | The Piano‡ | {co-production} New Zealand Australia France | Jane Campion | English, Māori & British Sign Language |
| 1993 (29th) | Three Colors: Blue | Trois couleurs: Bleu | France, Poland & Switzerland | Krzysztof Kieślowski | French & Polish |
| 1993 (29th) | Orlando | Orlando | United Kingdom | Sally Potter | English |
| 1994 (30th) | Short Cuts‡ | Short Cuts‡ | United States | Robert Altman | English |
| 1994 (30th) | Forrest Gump | Forrest Gump | United States | Robert Zemeckis | English |
| 1994 (30th) | Schindler's List | Schindler's List | United States | Steven Spielberg | English |
| 1995 (31st) | Before the Rain‡ | Pred doždot Пред дождот | {co-production} Macedonia United Kingdom | Milcho Manchevski | Macedonian, English & Albanian |
| 1995 (31st) | Lamerica | Lamerica | Italy | Gianni Amelio | Italian & Albanian |
| 1995 (31st) | Bullets over Broadway | Bullets over Broadway | United States | Woody Allen | English |
| 1996 (32nd) | Breaking the Waves‡ | Breaking the Waves‡ | Denmark | Lars von Trier | English |
| 1996 (32nd) | Fargo | Fargo | United States | Joel Coen | English |
| 1996 (32nd) | Trainspotting | Trainspotting | United Kingdom | Danny Boyle | English |
| 1997 (33rd) | The Ice Storm‡ | The Ice Storm‡ | United States | Ang Lee | English |
| 1997 (33rd) | Brassed Off | Brassed Off | {co-production} United Kingdom United States | Mark Herman | English |
| 1997 (33rd) | The Promise | La Promesse | {co-production} Belgium France | Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne | French |
| 1998 (34th) | The Celebration‡ | Festen | Denmark | Thomas Vinterberg | Danish |
| 1998 (34th) | The Dreamlife of Angels | La Vie rêvée des anges | France | Erick Zonca | French |
| 1998 (34th) | Character | Karakter | {co-production} Netherlands Belgium | Mike van Diem | Dutch |
| 1999 (35th) | All About My Mother‡ | Todo sobre mi madre | Spain | Pedro Almodóvar | Spanish |
| 1999 (35th) | The Straight Story | The Straight Story | {co-production} United States United Kingdom France | David Lynch | English |
| 1999 (35th) | Central Station | Central do Brasil | {co-production} Brazil France | Walter Salles | Portuguese |

### 2000s

| Year | Film | Original title(s) | Country | Director(s) | Language(s) |
| 2000 (36th) | Magnolia‡ | Magnolia‡ | United States | Paul Thomas Anderson | English, French & German |
| 2000 (36th) | Boys Don't Cry | Boys Don't Cry | United States | Kimberly Peirce | English |
| 2000 (36th) | American Beauty | American Beauty | United States | Sam Mendes | English |
| 2001 (37th) | Amélie‡ | Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain | {co-production} France Germany | Jean-Pierre Jeunet | French |
| 2001 (37th) | The Taste of Others | Le goût des autres | France | Agnès Jaoui | French |
| 2001 (37th) | Italian for Beginners | Italiensk for begyndere | {co-production} Denmark Sweden | Lone Scherfig | Danish, Italian & English |
| 2002 (38th) | The Man Without a Past‡ | Mies vailla menneisyyttä | Finland | Aki Kaurismäki | Finnish |
| 2002 (38th) | Talk to Her | Hable con ella | Spain | Pedro Almodóvar | Spanish |
| 2002 (38th) | The Royal Tenenbaums | The Royal Tenenbaums | United States | Wes Anderson | English |
| 2003 (39th) | The Hours‡ | The Hours‡ | {co-production} United Kingdom United States | Stephen Daldry | English |
| 2003 (39th) | Good Bye, Lenin! | Good Bye, Lenin! | Germany | Wolfgang Becker | German |
| 2003 (39th) | Dogville | Dogville | Denmark | Lars von Trier | English |
| 2004 (40th) | The Return‡ | Vozvrashcheniye Возвращение | Russia | Andrey Zvyagintsev | Russian |
| 2004 (40th) | Lost in Translation | Lost in Translation | United States | Sofia Coppola | English & Japanese |
| 2004 (40th) | 21 Grams | 21 Grams | United States | Alejandro González Iñárritu | English |
| 2005 (41st) | The Child‡ | L'Enfant | Belgium | Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne | French |
| 2005 (41st) | Nobody Knows | Dare mo Shiranai 誰も知らない | Japan | Hirokazu Koreeda | Japanese |
| 2005 (41st) | Caché | Caché | France | Michael Haneke | French |
| 2006 (42nd) | The Lives of Others‡ | Das Leben der Anderen | Germany | Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | German |
| 2006 (42nd) | To Return | Volver | Spain | Pedro Almodóvar | Spanish |
| 2006 (42nd) | Babel | Babel | {co-production} United States Mexico France | Alejandro González Iñárritu | English, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, Japanese Sign Language & Berber |
| 2007 (43rd) | This Is England‡ | This Is England‡ | United Kingdom | Shane Meadows | English |
| 2007 (43rd) | The Edge of Heaven | German: Auf der anderen Seite Turkish: Yaşamın Kıyısında | {co-production} Germany Turkey | Fatih Akın | German, Turkish & English |
| 2007 (43rd) | 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days | 4 luni, 3 săptămâni și 2 zile | Romania | Cristian Mungiu | Romanian |
| 2008 (44th) | Lust, Caution‡ | Se, jie 色，戒 | {co-production} United States China Taiwan | Ang Lee | Mandarin, Shanghainese, Cantonese, Szechwanese, Japanese, Hindi & English |
| 2008 (44th) | There Will Be Blood | There Will Be Blood | United States | Paul Thomas Anderson | English |
| 2008 (44th) | No Country for Old Men | No Country for Old Men | United States | Joel & Ethan Coen | English |
| 2009 (45th) | The White Ribbon‡ | Das weiße Band, Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte | {co-production} Austria Germany | Michael Haneke | German |
| 2009 (45th) | Waltz with Bashir | Hebrew: Vals im Bashir ואלס עם באשיר | {co-production} Israel Germany France | Ari Folman | Hebrew |
| 2009 (45th) | Still Walking | Aruitemo aruitemo 歩いても 歩いても | Japan | Hirokazu Koreeda | Japanese |

### 2010s

| Year | Film | Original title(s) | Country | Director(s) | Language(s) |
| 2010 (46th) | Lourdes‡ | Lourdes‡ | {co-production} Austria France Germany | Jessica Hausner | French |
| 2010 (46th) | The Social Network | The Social Network | United States | David Fincher | English |
| 2010 (46th) | Fish Tank | Fish Tank | United Kingdom | Andrea Arnold | English |
| 2011 (47th) | A Separation‡ | Jodaí-e Nadér az Simín جدایی نادر از سیمین | Iran | Asghar Farhadi | Persian |
| 2011 (47th) | Dogtooth | Kynodontas Κυνόδοντας | Greece | Yorgos Lanthimos | Greek |
| 2011 (47th) | Winter's Bone | Winter's Bone | United States | Debra Granik | English |
| 2012 (48th) | Amour‡ | Amour‡ | {co-production} France Germany Austria | Michael Haneke | French |
| 2012 (48th) | Laurence Anyways | Laurence Anyways | Canada | Xavier Dolan | French |
| 2012 (48th) | Moonrise Kingdom | Moonrise Kingdom | United States | Wes Anderson | English |
| 2013 (49th) | Blue Is the Warmest Colour‡ | La Vie d'Adèle – Chapitres 1 & 2 | {co-production} France Belgium Spain | Abdellatif Kechiche | French |
| 2013 (49th) | 12 Years a Slave | 12 Years a Slave | {co-production} United States United Kingdom | Steve McQueen | English |
| 2013 (49th) | The Turin Horse | A torinói ló | Hungary | Béla Tarr & Ágnes Hranitzky | Hungarian |
| 2014 (50th) | Two Days, One Night‡ | Deux jours, une nuit | {co-production} Belgium France Italy | Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne | French & Arabic |
| 2014 (50th) | Ida | Ida | {co-production} Poland Denmark France United Kingdom | Paweł Pawlikowski | Polish, French & Latin |
| 2014 (50th) | Boyhood | Boyhood | United States | Richard Linklater | English |
| 2015 (51st) | Leviathan‡ | Leviafan Левиафан | Russia | Andrey Zvyagintsev | Russian |
| 2015 (51st) | Carol | Carol | {co-production} United Kingdom United States | Todd Haynes | English |
| 2015 (51st) | Timbuktu | Timbuktu | {co-production} France Mauritania | Abderrahmane Sissako | Arabic, French, Tamasheq & Bambara |
| 2016 (52nd) | Son of Saul‡ | Saul fia | Hungary | László Nemes | Hungarian |
| 2016 (52nd) | Toni Erdmann | Toni Erdmann | {co-production} Germany Austria | Maren Ade | German, Romanian & English |
| 2016 (52nd) | Mustang | Mustang | {co-production} France Turkey Germany | Deniz Gamze Ergüven | Turkish |
| 2017 (53rd) | The Salesman‡ | Forušande فروشنده | {co-production} Iran France | Asghar Farhadi | Persian |
| 2017 (53rd) | BPM (Beats per Minute) | 120 battements par minute | France | Robin Campillo | French |
| 2017 (53rd) | Moonlight | Moonlight | United States | Barry Jenkins | English |
| 2018 (54th) | Shoplifters‡ | Manbiki Kazoku 万引き家族 | Japan | Hirokazu Kore-eda | Japanese |
| 2018 (54th) | Cold War | Zimna wojna | {co-production} Poland France United Kingdom | Paweł Pawlikowski | Polish |
| 2018 (54th) | BlacKkKlansman | BlacKkKlansman | United States | Spike Lee | English |
| 2019 (55th) | Parasite‡ | Gisaengchung 기생충 | South Korea | Bong Joon-ho | Korean |
| 2019 (55th) | Capernaum | Kafarnāḥūm کفرناحوم | Lebanon | Nadine Labaki | Lebanese |
| 2019 (55th) | Marriage Story | Marriage Story | United States | Noah Baumbach | English |

### 2020s

| Year | Film | Original title(s) | Country | Director(s) | Language(s) |
| 2020 (56th) | For Sama‡ | ‘min ajl sama‘ من أجل سما | {co-production} Syria United States United Kingdom | Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts | Arabic & English |
| 2020 (56th) | Babyteeth | Babyteeth | Australia | Shannon Murphy | English |
| 2020 (56th) | Mank | Mank | United States | David Fincher | English |
| 2021 (57th) | Flee‡ | ‘Flugt‘ | Denmark | Jonas Poher Rasmussen | English & Danish |
| 2021 (57th) | The Father | The Father | France UK | Florian Zeller | English |
| 2021 (57th) | Nomadland | Nomadland | United States | Chloé Zhao | English |