The 2019 submissions, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Albania, “The Delegation,” Bujar Alimani, director;
Algeria, “Papicha,” Mounia Meddour, director;
Argentina, “Heroic Losers,” Sebastián Borensztein, director;
Armenia, “Lengthy Night,” Edgar Baghdasaryan, director;
Australia, “Buoyancy,” Rodd Rathjen, director;
Austria, “Joy,” Sudabeh Mortezai, director;
Bangladesh, “Alpha,” Nasiruddin Yousuff, director;
Belarus, “Debut,” Anastasiya Miroshnichenko, director;
Belgium, “Our Mothers,” César Díaz, director;
Bolivia, “I Miss You,” Rodrigo Bellott, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, “The Son,” Ines Tanovic, director;
Brazil, “Invisible Life,” Karim Aïnouz, director;
Bulgaria, “Ága,” Milko Lazarov, director;
Cambodia, “In the Life of Music,” Caylee So, Sok Visal, directors;
Canada, “Antigone,” Sophie Deraspe, director;
Chile, “Spider,” Andrés Wood, director;
China, “Ne Zha,” Yu Yang, director;
Colombia, “Monos,” Alejandro Landes, director;
Costa Rica, “The Awakening of the Ants,” Antonella Sudasassi Furniss, director;
Croatia, “Mali,” Antonio Nuic, director;
Cuba, “A Translator,” Rodrigo Barriuso, Sebastián Barriuso, directors;
Czech Republic, “The Painted Bird,” Václav Marhoul, director;
Denmark, “Queen of Hearts,” May el-Toukhy, director;
Dominican Republic, “The Projectionist,” José María Cabral, director;
Ecuador, “The Longest Night,” Gabriela Calvache, director;
Egypt, “Poisonous Roses,” Ahmed Fawzi Saleh, director;
Estonia, “Truth and Justice,” Tanel Toom, director;
Ethiopia, “Running against the Wind,” Jan Philipp Weyl, director;
Finland, “Stupid Young Heart,” Selma Vilhunen, director;
France, “Les Misérables,” Ladj Ly, director;
Georgia, “Shindisi,” Dimitri Tsintsadze, director;
Germany, “System Crasher,” Nora Fingscheidt, director;
Ghana, “Azali,” Kwabena Gyansah, director;
Greece, “When Tomatoes Met Wagner,” Marianna Economou, director;
Honduras, “Blood, Passion, and Coffee,” Carlos Membreño, director;
Hong Kong, “The White Storm 2 Drug Lords,” Herman Yau, director;
Hungary, “Those Who Remained,” Barnabás Tóth, director;
Iceland, “A White, White Day,” Hlynur Pálmason, director;
India, “Gully Boy,” Zoya Akhtar, director;
Indonesia, “Memories of My Body,” Garin Nugroho, director;
Iran, “Finding Farideh,” Azadeh Moussavi, Kourosh Ataee, directors;
Ireland, “Gaza,” Garry Keane, Andrew McConnell, directors;
Israel, “Incitement,” Yaron Zilberman, director;
Italy, “The Traitor,” Marco Bellocchio, director;
Japan, “Weathering with You,” Makoto Shinkai, director;
Kazakhstan, “Kazakh Khanate. The Golden Throne,” Rustem Abdrashov, director;
Kenya, “Subira,” Ravneet Singh (Sippy) Chadha, director;
Kosovo, “Zana,” Antoneta Kastrati, director;
Kyrgyzstan, “Aurora,” Bekzat Pirmatov, director;
Latvia, “The Mover,” Davis Simanis, director;
Lebanon, “1982,” Oualid Mouaness, director;
Lithuania, “Bridges of Time,” Audrius Stonys, Kristine Briede, directors;
Luxembourg, “Tel Aviv on Fire,” Sameh Zoabi, director;
Malaysia, “M for Malaysia,” Dian Lee, Ineza Roussille, directors;
Mexico, “The Chambermaid,” Lila Avilés, director;
Mongolia, “The Steed,” Erdenebileg Ganbold, director;
Montenegro, “Neverending Past,” Andro Martinović, director;
Morocco, “Adam,” Maryam Touzani, director;
Nepal, “Bulbul,” Binod Paudel, director;
Netherlands, “Instinct,” Halina Reijn, director;
Nigeria, “Lionheart,” Genevieve Nnaji, director;
North Macedonia, “Honeyland,” Ljubo Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska, directors;
Norway, “Out Stealing Horses,” Hans Petter Moland, director;
Pakistan, “Laal Kabootar,” Kamal Khan, director;
Palestine, “It Must Be Heaven,” Elia Suleiman, director;
Panama, “Everybody Changes,” Arturo Montenegro, director;
Peru, “Retablo,” Alvaro Delgado Aparicio, director;
Philippines, “Verdict,” Raymund Ribay Gutierrez, director;
Poland, “Corpus Christi,” Jan Komasa, director;
Portugal, “The Domain,” Tiago Guedes, director;
Romania, “The Whistlers,” Corneliu Porumboiu, director;
Russia, “Beanpole,” Kantemir Balagov, director;
Saudi Arabia, “The Perfect Candidate,” Haifaa Al Mansour, director;
Senegal, “Atlantics,” Mati Diop, director;
Serbia, “King Petar the First,” Petar Ristovski, director;
Singapore, “A Land Imagined,” Yeo Siew Hua, director;
Slovakia, “Let There Be Light,” Marko Skop, director;
Slovenia, “History of Love,” Sonja Prosenc, director;
South Africa, “Knuckle City,” Jahmil X.T. Qubeka, director;
South Korea, “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho, director;
Spain, “Pain and Glory,” Pedro Almodóvar, director;
Sweden, “And Then We Danced,” Levan Akin, director;
Switzerland, “Wolkenbruch’s Wondrous Journey into the Arms of a Shiksa,” Michael Steiner, director;
Taiwan, “Dear Ex,” Mag Hsu, Chih-Yen Hsu, directors;
Thailand, “Krasue: Inhuman Kiss,” Sitisiri Mongkolsiri, director;
Tunisia, “Dear Son,” Mohamed Ben Attia, director;
Turkey, “Commitment Asli,” Semih Kaplanoglu, director;
Ukraine, “Homeward,” Nariman Aliev, director;
United Kingdom, “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,” Chiwetel Ejiofor, director;
Uruguay, “The Moneychanger,” Federico Veiroj, director;
Uzbekistan, “Hot Bread,” Umid Khamdamov, director;
Venezuela, “Being Impossible,” Patricia Ortega, director;
Vietnam, “Furie,” Le Van Kiet, director.
Personally, I loved PAPICHA (Algeria) and THE DOMAIN (Portugal). PAPICHA is a movie that made me think a lot and THE DOMAIN has some breathtaking cinematography and it’s a nice study about patriarchy and traditional values.
PARASITE is my clear favorite and I understand the respect the love for PAIN AND GLORY (and Banderas has never been better)
Hoping Weathering With You can beat the odds and get nominated.
Can someone post which Foreign films can be seen on Netflix? Thank you!
this year’s lineup? None, I guess.
I don’t really understand why Parasite is such a favorite. I mean, it is very good and I like it, but I do not see oscar material in it. It is more commercial entertainment than art.
And I don’t really understand why Pain and Glory is such a favorite. Because of Almodovar’s name alone, but his best days are long gone…
This is a no contest. Parasite will win with a landslide. Will be interesting who will get in, however. I personally hope that Denmark’s entry Queen of Hearts will be recognised. I also loved The Chambermaid, really nice film that goes to show the talent the Mexican directors possess this day and age. Pain and Glory was really good and Pedro’s name alone will possible warrant a nod. Fifth spot I’d say Holland’s Instinct.
I’ve seen seven of these: Parasite is my favorite film of the year thus far (gripping, suspenseful and surprisingly hilarious and ultimately moving), though Dolor y Gloria (Pain & Glory) comes a close second (Almodóvar’s best since Volver). I also thought 1982 was quite gripping and really sweet (it feels like the kind of film that could get nominated and make it three in a row for Lebanon in terms of nominations, given the juxtaposition of childhood with the day war breaks in Lebanon), La Camarista (The Chambermaid) is kind of slow, but ultimately very rewarding, Euridice Gusmao is powerfully shot and acted, though I do think the novelistic approach works against it, El Despertar de las Hormigas (The Awakening of the Ants) is fascinating in terms of its subject matter (a mother of two pressured by her family and community to have another child), but it feels like something that could have easily been a short film and System Crasher, while entertaining and well-intentioned, feels like a film that ultimately was not clear on what it wanted to say about problem children in the foster care system. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of these films and discussing what deserves to be nominated. For now, I don’t see how Spain and South Korea miss…
Talking about momentum…
Pain & Glory before and after the US release…
RT – 85%, now 97%
MC – 82, now 88
look out. (Parasite remains with a perfect 100% score at RT but I think has lowered slightly down to 91 on MC). The are now almost even… really exciting race between these two films, almost neck to neck. I really doubt any of them can leave Oscar night emptyhanded.
Pain & Glory’s steady MC climb was one of the most remarkable things I’ve seen on that site.
it is because, originally, the weight of spanish reviews were crucial, and Almodovar has a couple of spanish film critics that would just trash his films, whatever the quality. The most famous, Carlos Boyero, who, for the first time in a looooong time just gave it a mixed review.
Papicha
Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao
Tha Painted Bird
System Crasher
Parasite
that is my prediction
Pain and Glory
Parasite
Atlantics
The Painted Bird
BEANPOLE (one of my favorite and probably my best discovery of this year!)
Brazil will make it!
Go Brazil!
4 seen, ranked:
Pain & Glory
Parasite
The traitor
Atlantics
Really looking forward to watch Les misérables and It must be heaven.
Heard wonders about Monos, Retablo and La camarista.
Read wonders about Beanpole.
I didn’t like It Must Be Heaven and Les Miserables was disappointing. Hope you like them more than me.
Parasite
Pain and Glory
Beanpole
Atlantics
Les Misérables
The Traitor
Still can’t believe Portrait of a Lady on Fire was left out in the cold.
I haven’t heard of most of these, but I recognize a few that I had already planned on watching:
Aga (Bulgaria)
The Painted Bird (Czech Republic)
System Crasher (Germany)
The Traitor (Italy)
Tel Aviv on Fire (Luxembourg)
The Chambermaid (Mexico)
Atlantics (Senegal)
Does anyone have any favorites or recommendations from these 93 movies? I’ve already seen Parasite, Pain & Glory, Monos, Lionheart & The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
I’ve literally just come home from “And Then We Danced” (Sweden’s submission), which is a tender and beautiful “Call Me By Your Name”-esque romantic coming-of-age story set in a Georgian folk dance company. With fantastic first time actors, it’s a delightful watch that I can recommend for everybody.
This movie was fantastic! I just watched it at my local festival.
Honeyland is really good
watch Papicha and Invisible life, seen it and both are good
I’ve watched around 15 so far and the three standouts for me are:
Parasite
And Then We Danced
The Painted Bird (such a difficult film to watch but worth it)
Still need to watch Pain and Glory ….
South Korea and Spain are in. Surely no one is betting against these two… What else will make it?
I think Senegal (Atlantics) stands a good chance, and is likely to be committee-saved at least for the shortlist, if it doesn’t get in right away.
I also think the final is between Parasite and P&G but also think that both films are going to be rewarded with at least ONE Oscar… Parasite, International Film and Pain & Glory, Lead Actor. Same result than in Cannes, if we make the comparison