99th Academy Awards International Feature Film Submissions

Update July 2nd. According to Variety, Fjord by Cristian Mungiu USA distribution rights owner Neon confirmed that movie meets Academy's requirements for non-English language submissions; so, for now, until the list of approved films is released -which will confirm or not Neon's statement-, Fjord complies with Oscars International Feature Film requirements.

May 25, 2026
Cannes is over and it's time to address what's going on with this #Oscars2027 category that got huge changes in its core composition by including winners from some film festivals.

So far in 2026 there are three qualifying film festivals with a top winner, Sundance, Berlinale, and Cannes. The first two have winners NOT in the English language thus are already submitted to be considered for a spot in the short list of 15 films that will be announced on December 15, 2026 and one is now in question for the amount of English in film.

As we know according to AMPAS an international film is defined as a "feature film picture (over 40 minutes), produced outside USA and its territories with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track."  Cannes 2026 Palme d'Or winner is Fjord where English, Norwegian, Romanian, Hungarian, and Swedish are spoken; until now the percentage of each spoken language is not available but controversy has already started among some industry pundits and the omnipresent social media.

Some industry outlets have mentioned that there is very little Hungarian and Swedish spoken with Romanian spoken mainly in the household, Norwegian when speaking to local community and then English used by characters while navigating the Norwegian judicial and school systems; which suggests, as Mungiu has described, film is mainly in Norwegian and English. Still is unknown if Fjord complies with the "more than 50% non-English" and wonder when we will know it, most likely not until AMPAS list of accepted films is released.

Just a note to explain that even if Fjord does not qualify to this category, film has HIGH probabilities that will be looking for nominations in several #Oscars2027 categories as NEON (the US and other English-speaking territories rights owner since 2025) is known to do effective marketing for non-English films that end up with Oscars nominations; for example, Parasite, Sentimental Value, Anatomy of a Fall, Sirât, and more.

Nevertheless Fjord is listed below until we know from reliable sources that should not be in list.

Last, we still have the question about Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) that will run in 2026 from October 6 to 15. As can see below category deadline is September 30th, so we don't know if AMPAS will do an exception to deadline and include #BIFF2026 winner or will be #BIFF2025 the one included in final list of accepted films. All other qualifying film festivals run before category deadline and winners will be known before due date.

International Feature Film Category Key Dates
Submission deadline 5pm (PT) on Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Shortlist Tuesday, December 15, 2026
Nominations on Thursday, January 21, 2027
Awards Ceremony on Sunday, March 14, 2027

As always do not forget to consider that all dates are subject to change and if so, they will be announced via regular press release plus social media.

The 2027 List

From Film Festivals

Berlin International Film Festival: Gelbe Briefe (Yellow Leters), İlker Çatak, Germany, France and Turkey - winner of #Berlinale2026 Golden Bear and Prize of the Guild of German Arthouse cinemas

Busan International Film Festival: winner of Best Film

Cannes Film Festival: Fjord, Cristian Mungiu, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France and Romania - winner of #Cannes2026 Palme d'Or, FIPRESCI award, Ecumenical Jury Award, Prix de la Citoyenneté, and Prix François Chalais.

Sundance Film Festival: Hatixhja dhe Shabani (Shame and Money), Visar Morina, Germany, Kosovo, Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia and Belgium - winner of #Sundance2025 Grand Jury Prize World Cinemas Dramatic

Toronto International Film Festival: winner of Platform Award

Venice International Film Festival: winner of Golden Lion

Country Submissions

Too early for country submissions which usually start coming by July or August, like last year.

To check available info, trailers, and/or posters go to MOC here.
To check Movie On category posters on pinterest go here.

News

Armenia: submission deadline August 14. Selection between September 1st and 7th.

Canada: submission deadline July 10. Selection announcement on August 25 TBC
Croatia: submission deadline July 10
Cyprus: submission deadline July 10
Czech Republic: submission deadline was May 31

Denmark: submission deadline June 26. Selection after August 31. 

Estonia: submission deadline June 26

France: submission deadline July 8. Shortlist week of September 8. Selection week of September 15.

Germany: submission deadline July 27

Ireland: submission deadline June 30
Italy: submission deadline September 16

Japan: submission deadline July 23. Selection after August 24.

Kosovo: submission deadline June 26

Lithuania: submission deadline July 16. Selection on early August.

Malaysia: submission deadline July 30
Morocco: submission deadline July 31

Netherlands: submission deadline July 20
Norway: submission deadline June 14

Peru: submission deadline July 31
Philippines: submission deadline July 31. Shortlist in August. Selection in September 2. 

Slovakia: submission deadline June 29
Slovenia: submission deadline August 17
South Africa: submission deadline July 16
South Korea: submissions deadline was June 19. 6 films were submitted.
Sweden: submission deadline was June 15. Shortlist with 3 films soon.
Switzerland: submission deadline June 26. Selection after August 12.

Thailand: shortlisted 8 films, selection soon

AMPAS released an International Feature Film FAQ's and to read it go here.