98th Academy Awards International Feature Film Submissions

Update July 16: It is surprising to find two countries publishing their call to submit films to Oscars 2026, first was Papua New Guinea and second, Madagascar. It was surprising as both are not countries with known cinema so had to make sure that announcements were legit. The first check was to find if both film sites existed and yes, they do; then, if in their sites there was an announcement and yes, there is. Therefore decided to include them and with utmost interest will be looking forward to find if they submit a film for AMPAS consideration.

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Update July 15: The first country to announce their submission is Turkey!!!

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As of today, June 2, 2025 decided to publish the post even when there are only a few countries that have announced their call for submissions to #Oscars2026 International Feature Film category. Post will be updated constantly until October 1st, AMPAS submission deadline for this category.

Today May 28 post was opened but will remain unpublished for a while, maybe until July 2025. Still already there are news published about calling submissions to local film academies.

On April 21, 2025 AMPAS published a press release indicating several changes to the rules. These are some of the most interesting changes.

"In a procedural change, Academy members must now watch all nominated films in each category to be eligible to vote in the final round for the Oscars®. All designated nominees will also be included on the final ballot."

I understand that if is the "final round" then they must have watch all the 10/15 shortlisted films, as is almost impossible in the International Feature Film category to watch ALL submissions and much less probable the largest category of all that always has been Best Picture with 300+ eligible films. Nevertheless will be checking for more info regrading this change and will post news if applicable.

As the world is full of serious conflicts and now there are several well-known film directors and creative crew living in other than their own country, AMPAS changed the eligibility requirement regarding creative control.

"In the International Feature Film category, the eligibility requirement regarding creative control has been updated to be inclusive of filmmakers with refugee or asylum status. The submitting country must confirm that creative control of the film was largely in the hands of citizens, residents, or individuals with refugee or asylum status in the submitting country."

Most interesting for me is to discover that infamous rule 13 that used to list all International Feature Film category rules do not longer identify them; now is Rule Sixteen (16). If you feel like reading the rules go official site here, is a PDF file.

The following are key dates for the #Oscars2026 season.
Submission deadline for International Feature Film: Monday, October 1, 2025
Oscars Shortlists Announcement: Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Oscars Nominations Announcement: Tuesday, January 22, 2026
98th Academy Award Ceremony: Sunday, March 15, 2026

The 2026 List

Turkey: Hemme'nin Öldüğü Günlerden Biri (One of Those Days When Hemme Dies), Murat Fıratoğlu, Turkey #BiennaleCinema2024 Orizzonti Special Jury Prize winner

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News

Albania: Submissions deadline August 1
Argentina: Voting will start the last week of August
Armenia: Submissions from July 10 to August 15
Azerbaijan: Submissions deadline July 15

Belgium: Submissions deadline July 4. First round Flemish jury and French jury select 2 films each to generate a 4 films shortlist. Second round National jury selects 1 film.
Bhutan: Submissions from August 1st to September 25
Bolivia: Submissions deadline September 6
Bosnia Herzegovina: Submissions deadline August 10
Brazil: Submissions deadline August 10. Shortlist of 6 films on September 8. Selection on September 15
Bulgaria: Submissions deadline July 1

Cambodia: Submissions deadline July 31
Canada: Submissions deadline July 11. Announcement of selection end of August. 
Chile: Submissions deadline August 5  
Costa Rica: Submissions deadline August 18 
Croatia: Submissions deadline July 3
Czech Republic: Submissions deadline May 31. Voting first round selects 3 or 4 films, second round vote all Academy members to define selection.  3 films selected: Karavan (Caravan) by Zuzana Kirchnerová (Cannes), Jeste nejsem, kým chci být (I'm Not Everything I Want to Be) by Klára Tasovská -documentary (Berlinale), and Sbormistr (Broken Voices) by Ondřej Provazník (Karlovy Vary).

Denmark: Submissions deadline June 27 Danish Selection committee will review films from August 4 to 29 End of August 3 films shortlist. End of September, selection.

Ecuador: Jury selection deadline July 19
Estonia: Submissions deadline August 1

France: Submissions deadline July 15.  Pre-selection meeting week of September 8, 3 films will be announced.  Selection week of September 15. 

Germany: Submissions deadline July 21, 2025. 5 films were submitted: Amrum by Fatih Akin, Cranko by Joachim A. Lang, Reifenstahl by Andres Veiel, Sound of Falling by Mascha Schilinski, and The Tiger by Dennis Gansel. German Selection committee will review film submission on August 20 and 21 in Munich. Selection on August 22. 
Greece: Submissions from July 16 to July 28
Guatemala: call for selection committee deadline July 27

Hungary: Submissions deadline August 25

Iceland: Submissions deadline August 5
India: Submissions open from August 15 to September 19. Selection announcement on September 28
Indonesia: Film registration from August 1 to August 30; selection process from September 1 to September 10. Selection announcement on September 11
Ireland: Information about titles which may be eligible by COB on June 30th, 2025
Italy: Submissions deadline Friday, September 12 at 1pm

Japan: Submissions deadline July 24. Additional materials on August 1st 
Jordan: Submissions deadline July 28

Kosovo: Submissions deadline July 21, 2025

Latvia: Submissions deadline July 25
Lebanon: Submissions from July 17 to September 2
Lithuania: Submissions deadline July 31
Luxembourg: Submissions deadline June 18

Madagascar: Submissions deadline August 15
Morocco: Submissions deadline July 31

Netherlands: Submissions deadline July 21

Pakistan: Submission deadline August 15
Papua New Guinea: Submission deadline July 25
Paraguay: Submissions from July 18 to August 11
Peru: Submission deadline August 5

Romania: Call to form Selection Committee, deadline July 15.  Submission deadline August 15. Selection on September 10

Senegal: Submissions deadline September 10
Singapore: Submission deadline July 24
Slovakia: Selection committee members deadline August 15
South Africa: Submissions deadline August 1st
South Korea: Submissions deadline July 22. 19 films were submitted.
Sweden:  Submissions deadline June 25. Screener link by August 1st
Switzerland: Submissions deadline June 26

Tunisia: Submissions deadline August 15

Uganda: Jury members nominations deadline July 25
Ukraine: Submissions from July 16 to August 3
Uruguay: Submissions deadline August 22 

Vietnam: Submissions deadline September 20th