# List of submissions to the 56th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

This is a list of submissions to the 56th 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 56th Academy Awards, twenty-six films were submitted in the category Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The Dominican Republic submitted a film for the first time. The five nominated films came from Algeria, France, Hungary, Spain and Sweden.
Sweden won the award for the third time with Fanny and Alexander by Ingmar Bergman, which also won Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design, alongside nomination for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.

## Submissions

| Submitting country | Film title used in nomination | Original title | Language(s) | Director(s) | Result |
| Algeria | The Ball | Le Bal | No Dialogue | Ettore Scola | Nominated |
| Austria | Tramps | Die letzte Runde | German | Peter Patzak | Not nominated |
| Canada | The Tin Flute | Bonheur d'occasion | French | Claude Fournier | Not nominated |
| China | My Memories of Old Beijing | 城南旧事 | Mandarin | Wu Yigong | Not nominated |
| Czechoslovakia | Incomplete Eclipse | Neúplné zatmění | Czech | Jaromil Jireš | Not nominated |
| Denmark | Zappa | Zappa | Danish | Bille August | Not nominated |
| Dominican Republic | Guaguasi | Guaguasi | Spanish | Jorge Ulla | Not nominated |
| France | Entre Nous | Coup de foudre | French | Diane Kurys | Nominated |
| East Germany | The Turning Point | Der Aufenthalt | German | Frank Beyer | Not nominated |
| West Germany | A Woman in Flames | Die flambierte Frau | German | Robert van Ackeren | Not nominated |
| Hungary | Job's Revolt | Jób lázadása | Hungarian | Imre Gyöngyössy and Barna Kabay | Nominated |
| Iceland | The House | Húsið | Icelandic | Egill Eðvarðsson | Not nominated |
| Israel | A Married Couple | זוג נשוי | Hebrew | Yitzhak Yeshurun | Not nominated |
| Italy | And the Ship Sails On | E la nave va | Italian | Federico Fellini | Not nominated |
| Japan | Antarctica | 南極物語 | Japanese | Koreyoshi Kurahara | Not nominated |
| Mexico | Erendira | Eréndira | Spanish | Ruy Guerra | Not nominated |
| Netherlands | The Fourth Man | De vierde man | Dutch | Paul Verhoeven | Not nominated |
| Peru | Maruja in Hell | Maruja en el infierno | Spanish | Francisco José Lombardi | Not nominated |
| Portugal | No Trace of Sin | Sem Sombra de Pecado | Portuguese | José Fonseca e Costa | Not nominated |
| Romania | Return from Hell | Întoarcerea din iad | Romanian | Nicolae Mărgineanu | Not nominated |
| Soviet Union | Vassa | Васса | Russian | Gleb Panfilov | Not nominated |
| Spain | Carmen | Carmen | Spanish | Carlos Saura | Nominated |
| Sweden | Fanny and Alexander | Fanny och Alexander | Swedish, German | Ingmar Bergman | Won Academy Award |
| Switzerland | In the White City | Dans la ville blanche | French. German, Portuguese | Alain Tanner | Not nominated |
| Taiwan | Growing Up | 小畢的故事 | Mandarin | Chen Kunhou | Not nominated |
| Yugoslavia | Great Transport | Veliki transport | Serbo-Croatian | Veljko Bulajić | Not nominated |