# List of submissions to the 53rd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

This is a list of submissions to the 53rd 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 53rd Academy Awards, twenty-six films were submitted in the category Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Cameroon, Colombia, Iceland and Portugal all submitted films for the first time. Iceland has submitted a film every year since then, while Cameroon did not submit again until 2017. The five nominated films came from France, Hungary, Japan and Spain.
The Soviet Union won for the third time with the Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears by Vladimir Menshov.

## Submissions

| Submitting country | Film title used in nomination | Original title | Language(s) | Director(s) | Result |
| Austria | Egon Schiele – Exzess und Bestrafung | Egon Schiele - Exzesse | German, English, French | Herbert Vesely | Not nominated |
| Brazil | Bye Bye Brazil | Bye Bye Brasil | Brazilian Portuguese | Carlos Diegues | Not nominated |
| Cameroon | Our Daughter | Notre fille | French | Daniel Kamwa | Not nominated |
| Canada | Good Riddance | Les Bons débarras | French | Francis Mankiewicz | Not nominated |
| Colombia | The Latin Immigrant | El inmigrante latino | Spanish | Gustavo Nieto Roa | Not nominated |
| Czechoslovakia | Love Between the Raindrops | Lásky mezi kapkami deště | Czech | Karel Kachyňa | Not nominated |
| Finland | Tulipää | Tulipää | Finnish | Pirjo Honkasalo and Pekka Lehto | Not nominated |
| France | The Last Metro | Le Dernier Métro | French | François Truffaut | Nominated |
| East Germany | The Fiancee | Die Verlobte | German | Günther Rücker and Günter Reisch | Not nominated |
| West Germany | Fabian | Fabian | German | Wolf Gremm | Not nominated |
| Hungary | Confidence | Bizalom | Hungarian | István Szabó | Nominated |
| Iceland | Land and Sons | Land og synir | Icelandic | Ágúst Guðmundsson | Not nominated |
| India | Payal Ki Jhankaar | पायल की झंकार | Hindi | Satyen Bose | Not nominated |
| Israel | The Thin Line | על חבל דק | Hebrew | Michal Bat-Adam | Not nominated |
| Italy | A Leap in the Dark | Salto nel vuoto | Italian | Marco Bellocchio | Not nominated |
| Japan | Kagemusha | 影武者 | Japanese | Akira Kurosawa | Nominated |
| Netherlands | In for Treatment | Opname | Dutch | Marja Kok and Erik van Zuylen | Not nominated |
| Norway | Life and Death | Liv og død | Norwegian | Petter Vennerød and Svend Wam | Not nominated |
| Poland | Olympics 40 | Olimpiada 40 | Polish | Andrzej Kotkowski | Not nominated |
| Portugal | Morning Undersea | Manhã Submersa | Portuguese | Lauro António | Not nominated |
| Soviet Union | Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears | Москва слезам не верит | Russian | Vladimir Menshov | Won Academy Award |
| Spain | The Nest | El nido | Spanish | Jaime de Armiñán | Nominated |
| Sweden | Herr Puntila and His Servant Matti | Herr Puntila och hans dräng Matti | Swedish | Ralf Långbacka | Not nominated |
| Switzerland | Every Man for Himself | Sauve qui peut (la vie) | French | Jean-Luc Godard | Not nominated |
| Taiwan | The Legend of Six Dynasty | 六朝怪談 | Mandarin | Guk-Gam Wong | Not nominated |
| Yugoslavia | Special Treatment | Poseban tretman | Serbo-Croatian | Goran Paskaljević | Not nominated |