![Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Florian_Henckel_von_Donnersmarck.jpg)
This is a list of submissions to the 79th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. The
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...
has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
every year since the award was created in 1956.
The award is handed out annually by the Academy to a
feature-length
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
dialogue.
The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films.
For the
79th Academy Awards
The 79th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2006 and took place February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m ...
, which were held on February 25, 2007, the Academy invited 83 countries to submit films for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, including
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
, which was invited to submit a film for the first time in the history of the Academy.
Sixty-three countries submitted films to the Academy and sixty-one of those films were accepted for review by the Academy, a record number for the time.
The submissions of
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
and
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
were rejected before the formal review process.
Two rule changes were made for the 79th Academy Awards in regard to the Best Foreign Language Film process.
The first was instituting a two-step process in choosing the nominees for the award in order to allow
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
-based members of the Academy to participate.
An initial committee would select nine films to form a shortlist in January that would then be reviewed by a committee composed of ten members of the initial committee, ten
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
-based members, and ten New York-based members that would select the final five nominees.
The second change was the removal of a rule requiring that the films be in an official language of the submitting country.
This was done in response to the rejection of
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
's and
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
's submissions for the
78th Academy Awards
The 78th Academy Awards presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:00 p.m. PST / 8:00 p.m. EST. The ceremony was ...
, ''
Private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
'' and ''
Caché'' respectively, because they were not filmed in the official language of their respective countries.
This allowed for the acceptance of submissions such as
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
's ''
Water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
'', which contained solely
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
dialogue.
Following the revealing of the shortlist, the Academy released a list of the five nominees on January 23, 2007.
The winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
's ''
The Lives of Others
''The Lives of Others'' (german: link=no, Das Leben der Anderen, ) is a 2006 German drama film written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck marking his feature film directorial debut. The plot is about the monitoring of East Berlin ...
'', which was directed by
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Florian Maria Georg Christian Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck (; born 2 May 1973) is an Academy Award-winning German and Austrian film director. He is best known for writing and directing the 2006 dramatic thriller ''Das Leben der Anderen (The L ...
.
Submissions
Notes
* Finland's submission, ''
Lights in the Dusk
''Lights in the Dusk'' ( fi, Laitakaupungin valot) is a 2006 Finnish comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by Aki Kaurismäki. Starring Janne Hyytiäinen, Ilkka Koivula, and Maria Järvenhelmi, the film was presented at the 2006 Can ...
,'' was ejected before the formal review process because director
Aki Kaurismäki
Aki Olavi Kaurismäki (; born 4 April 1957) is a Finnish film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the award-winning '' Drifting Clouds'' (1996), ''The Man Without a Past'' (2002), ''Le Havre'' (2011) and ''The Other Side of Hope'' (20 ...
withdrew the film from consideration.
* Luxembourg's submission, ''
Your Name is Justine,'' was rejected before the formal review process because the Academy determined that not enough creative input was received from within Luxembourg for the film to meet the Academy's requirements.
References
;General
*
;Specific
External links
Official website for the 79th Academy Awards
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