# List of submissions to the 52nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

This is a list of submissions to the 52nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was created in 1956 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honour non-English-speaking films produced outside the United States. The award is handed out annually, and is accepted by the winning film's director, although it is considered an award for the submitting country as a whole. Countries are invited by the Academy to submit their best films for competition according to strict rules, with only one film being accepted from each country.
For the 52nd Academy Awards, twenty-three films were submitted in the category Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. China submitted a film for the first time. The five nominated films came from France, Italy, Poland, Spain.
West Germany won for the first time with The Tin Drum by Volker Schlöndorff.

## Submissions

| Submitting country | Film title used in nomination | Original title | Language(s) | Director(s) | Result |
| Argentina | The Island | La isla | Spanish | Alejandro Doria | Not nominated |
| Austria | Tales from the Vienna Woods | Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald | German | Maximilian Schell | Not nominated |
| Belgium | Woman in a Twilight Garden | Een vrouw tussen hond en wolf | Dutch | André Delvaux | Not nominated |
| Bulgaria | The Barrier | Бариерата | Bulgarian | Christo Christov | Not nominated |
| Canada | A Scream from Silence | Mourir à tue-tête | French | Anne Claire Poirier | Not nominated |
| China | Effendi | 阿凡提 | Mandarin | Lang Xiao | Not nominated |
| Czechoslovakia | Those Wonderful Men With A Crank | Báječní muži s klikou | Czech | Jiří Menzel | Not nominated |
| Denmark | Johnny Larsen | Johnny Larsen | Danish | Morten Arnfred | Not nominated |
| Egypt | Alexandria... Why? | إسكندرية... ليه؟ | Arabic | Youssef Chahine | Not nominated |
| France | A Simple Story | Une histoire simple | French, English | Claude Sautet | Nominated |
| West Germany | The Tin Drum | Die Blechtrommel | German | Volker Schlöndorff | Won Academy Award |
| Hong Kong | Raining in the Mountain | 空山灵雨 | Mandarin | King Hu | Not nominated |
| Hungary | Angi Vera | Angi Vera | Hungarian | Pál Gábor | Not nominated |
| Israel | Moments | רגעים | Hebrew, French | Michal Bat-Adam | Not nominated |
| Italy | To Forget Venice | Dimenticare Venezia | Italian | Franco Brusati | Nominated |
| Japan | Gassan | 月山 | Japanese | Tetsutaro Murano | Not nominated |
| Netherlands | A Woman Like Eve | Een Vrouw als Eva | Dutch, English | Nouchka van Brakel | Not nominated |
| Poland | The Maids of Wilko | Panny z Wilka | Polish | Andrzej Wajda | Nominated |
| Soviet Union | Autumn Marathon | Осенний марафон | Russian | Georgiy Daneliya | Not nominated |
| Spain | Mama Turns A Hundred | Mamá cumple cien años | Spanish | Carlos Saura | Nominated |
| Sweden | A Respectable Life | Ett anständigt liv | Swedish | Stefan Jarl | Not nominated |
| Switzerland | Les petites fugues | Les petites fugues | French | Yves Yersin | Not nominated |
| Yugoslavia | The Man to Destroy | Čovjek koga treba ubiti | Serbo-Croatian | Veljko Bulajić | Not nominated |