Foreign Language Films and the Oscar: The Nominees and Winners, 1948-2017

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Volumes have been written about the Academy Awards-that yearly Hollywood bash that brings together the glamour, glitter and Oscar gold of the international film industry-but few books have dealt directly with specific categories beyond Best Picture. Foreign Language Films and the Oscar does just that, and it’s an eye-opener for true cinephiles.

Of course there’s Italy’s 8 ½, Sweden’s Through a Glass Darkly and Mexico’s Pan’s Labyrinth, but also Denmark’s Harry and the Butler, Yugoslavia’s I Even Met Happy Gypsies and Nicaragua’s Alsino and the Condor. Over the past seven decades, two-thirds of the world’s governments have submitted some 2,000 feature-length films for Oscar consideration, and 312 of them received nominations to compete for the title of Best Foreign Film. In this compendium, each of the nominees is catalogued chronologically, replete with a brief and descriptive synopsis, basic facts about its personnel and production qualities, and a ranking among its annual opponents that does not always jibe with that of the Academy.

Michael S. Barrett has compiled an entertaining, easy-to-read, and somewhat provocative guide, listing the films from the first-honored Best Foreign-language Film in 1948, Shoeshine, through Iran’s second Oscar winner in 2017, The Salesman.