Annual Oscars Competition for Best International Feature Film: All Entries Received to Date for the Year 2026
The race for the 2026 Oscars is heating up, with several countries submitting their entries for the Best International Feature Film category. Here's a look at some of the notable contenders and their synopses.
Notable Contenders
Ireland: Sanatorium
Officially selected for the competition, the detailed synopsis and production credits for Sanatorium are not yet available.
Bulgaria: Tarika
Similar to Sanatorium, Tarika has been officially selected, but specific details about the film are yet to be disclosed.
Turkey: One of Those Days When Hemme Dies
Directed by Murat Fıratoğlu, One of Those Days When Hemme Dies is a debut feature that premiered at the Venice Film Festival's Horizons strand in 2024. The film follows a tomato harvest worker who, desperately trying to pay off an impending debt, seeks a radical solution. Fıratoğlu funded the film with debts and loans from family and friends. The film won the special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival.
Norway and Brazil: Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent
Both Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent are frontrunners with strong critical anticipation. Norway and Brazil are the likely submitting countries, but full synopsis and production details are not yet publicly available.
France and Luxembourg (unsubmitted): It Was Just an Accident
Although not yet submitted, It Was Just an Accident is another noted film, considered by France and Luxembourg but not submitted by Iran.
Other Submissions Expected
Countries like Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, and Japan have invited filmmakers to submit films by late summer 2025, with announcement dates varying through September. These submissions are expected in the coming weeks.
Key Dates
- The official submission deadline is October 1, 2025.
- The 15-film shortlist will be announced on December 16, 2025.
- Oscar nominations will be announced on January 22, 2026.
- The 98th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for March 15, 2026 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Besides these mentioned films, many countries are still finalizing their submissions. The full list and detailed synopses will become clearer closer to the October deadline.
Other News
The documentary I'm Not Everything I Want To Be, directed by Klára Tasovská, is produced by Lukáš Kokeš and Tasovská herself for Somatic Films (Czech Republic), in co-production with Jakub Viktorín for Nutprodukcia (Slovakia) and Ralph Wieser for Mischief Films (Austria). The film premiered out of Berlinale's Panorama strand in 2024 and follows the life and career of photographer Libuše Jarcovjáková who captured LGBTQ life in Prague before homosexuality was decriminalised. The Czech Republic submitted I'm Not Everything I Want To Be for the 2026 Oscars.
Turkey submitted One Of The Days When Hemme Dies to the Oscars over 30 times and was shortlisted in 2008 for Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Three Monkeys. An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track.
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