The field for the 99th Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film is taking shape, and a rule shake-up this year has already changed the calculus for who’s eligible. With a September 30 submission cutoff looming, several festival-winning films have secured automatic qualification while dozens of national committees have announced their official picks.
The key dates to watch: national submissions are due by late September, the Academy will name a 15-film shortlist on December 15, nominations are revealed January 21, and the Oscars take place March 14. For readers, that means the next four months will determine which international titles get serious awards-season momentum.
What changed and why it matters now
This season the Academy expanded pathways into the international race: in addition to entries put forward by national selection panels, a non-English-language film that wins a top prize at one of six major festivals now qualifies automatically. The qualifying festivals are Cannes (Palme d’Or), Berlin (Golden Bear), Venice (Golden Lion), Sundance (World Cinema Grand Jury Prize), Busan (Best Film) and Toronto (Platform Award).
Under the updated rules, the Academy will credit the **film** itself as the nominee rather than only the submitting country — and the director’s name will be added to the Oscar plaque beneath the title, with the country or region listed after that if applicable. That change elevates festival winners and could reshape national committees’ tactics: a festival victory brings direct access to the race, while national selectors still control most of the field.
The effect is visible already. Berlin’s Golden Bear winner is eligible on its own merits even as Germany named a separate submission; Cannes, Sundance and other prize winners have similarly punched early tickets into the competition.
Notable early submissions and automatic qualifiers
Several countries have announced their official entries, and festival laureates have prequalified. Below is a snapshot of the submissions reported so far — a running picture of contenders to watch as the shortlist and nominations approach.
- Austria — Rose (Markus Schleinzer)
- Belgium — Coward (Lukas Dhont)
- Cambodia — Becoming Human (Polen Ly)
- Canada — Nina Roza (Geneviève Dulude‑De Celles)
- Chile — The Meltdown (Manuela Martelli)
- Colombia — Rains Over Babel (Gala del Sol)
- Croatia — God Will Not Help (Hana Jušić)
- Czech Republic — If Pigeons Turned To Gold (Pepa Ljubojacki)
- Dominican Republic — Melodrama (Andrés Farías)
- Ecuador — The Ivy (Ana Cristina Barragán)
- Estonia — Our Erika (German Golub)
- Germany — Everytime (Sandra Wollner)
- Iraq — No Paradise If You Are Killed By A Woman (Halkawt Mustafa)
- Ireland — Aontas (Damian McCann)
- Japan — All Of A Sudden (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
- Kosovo — Dua (Blerta Basholli)
- Latvia — Ulya (Viesturs Kairišs)
- Lithuania — How To Divorce During The War (Andrius Blaževičius)
- Mexico — On The Road (David Pablos)
- Morocco — Strawberries (Laila Marrakchi)
- North Macedonia — 17 (Kosara Mitić)
- Norway — Growth Of The Soil (Hans Petter Moland)
- Palestine — Citizen Osama (Ahmed Hassouna)
- Romania — Fjord (Cristian Mungiu) — qualified via Palme d’Or
- Slovakia — Flood (Martin Gonda)
- South Korea — Possible Love (Lee Chang‑dong)
- Sweden — Adult Supervision (Alex Schulman)
- Switzerland — Who Is Still Alive (Nicolas Wadimoff)
- Taiwan — A Foggy Tale (Chen Yu‑hsun)
- Thailand — 9 Temples To Heaven (Sompot Chidgasornpongse)
- Türkiye — Like A Limbless Tree (Tunç Davut)
- Uruguay — A Loose End (Daniel Hendler)
Some festival winners have already been flagged as automatic qualifiers. For example, a Golden Bear winner that otherwise might have been blocked by national selection calendars is eligible under the new pathway, while a Palme d’Or recipient can represent itself and its director on the ballot rather than depend solely on a country’s committee to submit it.
What to watch next
With the new eligibility route, look for two trends: national committees may opt for safer, championed festival titles or double down on overlooked local films; and festival programmers will gain even more leverage in shaping the international Oscar conversation.
The immediate milestones are the shortlist on December 15 and nominations on January 21 — those announcements will narrow this wide field to the handful that could contest the Academy statue. For now, the mix of national picks and festival qualifiers makes the race more unpredictable and, for cinephiles, more compelling.
We will update this list as more countries confirm their entries and as festival winners clinch direct qualification — check back for additions and further analysis as the awards season unfolds.
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Hello, I’m Declan. I share my film reviews and discoveries with you to enrich your moviegoing experience.