It’s important to remember that the Oscars are both an American AND a global phenomenon. For almost 100 years the Academy has made space to award a Foreign-Language film, so, of course, that means we here at CineFix are overdue to do the same. So here, in an order that’s even more meaningless than usual because we’re doing it chronologically, are our picks for the 10 Best International Feature Film Winners in the history of the Academy Awards.

While the award wasn’t regularly presented until 1957, non-American and non-English films got plenty of recognition prior to that, going all the way back to the very first Oscar ceremony. From Italy, Czechoslovakia, Japan, The Soviet Union (at the time) and even the Ivory Coast, Foreign-Language Film award winners are as varied as the cultures from which they arrive at Oscars.

The Picks:

10 - Italy - Ladri di biciclette / Bicycle Thieves (1949) dir. Vittorio De Sica
9 - France - Orfeu Negro / Black Orpheus (1959) dir. Marcel Camus
8 - Czechoslovakia - Ostře sledované vlaky / Closely Watched Trains (1966) dir. Jiří Menzel
7 - Soviet Union - Dersu Uzala (1975) dir. Akira Kurosawa
6 - Ivory Coast - La Victoire en chantant / Black and White in Color (1976) dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud
5 - Denmark - Babettes Gæstebud / Babette's Feast (1987) dir. Gabriel Axel
4 - The Netherlands - Antonia / Antonia’s Line (1995) dir. Marleen Gorris
3 - Bosnia & Herzegovina - Ničija zemlja / No Man’s Land (2001) dir. Danis Tanović
2 - Iran - Forushandeh / The Salesman (2016) dir. Asghar Farhadi
1 - Japan - Drive My Car (2021) dir. Hamaguchi Ryusuke

This movie list was written by Siddhant Adlakha and edited by Justin Donaldson and Nick Mundy.

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