Complete List of 2014 Foreign Language Oscar Contenders Hits Record 76 Submissions

The Academy officially announced today that a record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 2014 Oscars. Among those submitting, Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants and this is the first time Montenegro has submitted a film as an independent country.

Based solely on name recognition alone I’d say Thomas Vinterberg‘s The Hunt (Denmark) and Asghar Farhadi‘s The Past (Iran) will be looked at as front-runners. However, I haven’t only seen a few of the titles on this list, another of which is Mexico’s entry, Heli from Amat Escalante.

I have heard good things about Borgman (Netherlands) and it will be interesting to see how Haifaa al-Mansour‘s Wadjda is treated as it is a story unto itself, not to mention it seems to be receiving high marks from those that have seen it. I’m personally hoping to catch it soon as I was unable to attend the only press screening it has had here in Seattle so far.

Of course, I will continue to track the entrants on the official Foreign Language contenders page here on the site, but for now I have listed all 76 entrants below with links, where available, to more information.

A shortlist of contenders should be announced toward the end of December, and remember, this is the first year the entire Academy gets to vote on the winner, though the shortlist will still be decided by the Foreign Language committee.

The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT.

Afghanistan, Wajma (An Afghan Love Story) (dir. Barmak Akram)
Albania, Agon (dir. Robert Budina)
Argentina, Wakolda (dir. LucÃa Puenzo)
Australia, The Rocket (dir. Kim Mordaunt)
Austria, The Wall (dir. Julian PÃ¶lsler)
Azerbaijan, Steppe Man (dir. Shamil Aliyev)
Bangladesh, Television (dir. Mostofa Sarwar Farooki)
Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown (dir. Felix van Groeningen)
Bosnia and Herzegovina, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (dir. Danis TanoviÄ‡)
Brazil, Neighbouring Sounds (dir. Kleber MendonÃ§a Filho)
Bulgaria, The Colour of the Chameleon (dir. Emil Hristov)
Cambodia, The Missing Picture (dir. Rithy Panh)
Canada, Gabrielle (dir. Louise Archambault)
Chad, GriGris (dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)
Chile, Gloria (dir. SebastiÃ¡n Lelio)
China, Back to 1942 (dir. Feng Xiaogang)
Croatia, Halima’s Path (dir. Arsen Anton OstojiÄ‡)
Czech Republic, The Don Juans (dir. Jiri Menzel)
Denmark, The Hunt (dir. Thomas Vinterberg)
Dominican Republic, Who’s the Boss? (dir. Ronni Castillo)
Ecuador, Porcelain Horse (dir. Javier Andrade)
Egypt, Winter of Discontent (dir. Ibrahim El-Batout)
Estonia, Free Range (dir. Veiko Ã•unpuu)
Finland, Disciple (dir. Ulrika Bengts)
France, Renoir (dir. Gilles Bourdos)
Georgia, In Bloom (dirs. Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon GroÃŸ)
Germany, Two Lives (dir. Georg Maas)
Greece, Boy Eating the Bird’s Food (dir. Ektoras Lygizos)
Hong Kong, The Grandmaster (dir. Wong Kar-wai)
Hungary, The Notebook (dir. JÃ¡nos SzÃ¡sz)
Iceland, Of Horses and Men (dir. Benedikt Erlingsson)
India, The Good Road (dir. Gyan Correa)
Indonesia, Sang Kiai (dir. Rako Prijanto)
Iran, The Past (dir. Asghar Farhadi)
Israel, Bethlehem (dir. Yuval Adler)
Italy, The Great Beauty (dir. Paolo Sorrentino)
Japan, The Great Passage (dir. Yuya Ishii)
Kazakhstan, The Old Man (dir. Ermek Tursunov)
Latvia, Mother I Love You (dir. JÄnis Nords)
Lebanon, Blind Intersections (dir. Lara Saba)
Lithuania, Conversations on Serious Topics (dir. GiedrÄ— BeinoriÅ«tÄ—)
Luxembourg, Blind Spot (dir. Christophe Wagner)
Mexico, Heli (dir. Amat Escalante)
Moldova, All God’s Children (dir. Adrian Popovici)
Montenegro, Bad Destiny (dir. DraÅ¡ko ÄuroviÄ‡)
Morocco, God’s Horses (dir. Nabil Ayouch)
Nepal, Soongava: Dance of the Orchids (dir. Subarna Thapa)
Netherlands, Borgman (dir. Alex van Warmerdam)
New Zealand, White Lies (dir. Dana Rotberg)
Norway, I Am Yours (dir. Iram Haq)
Pakistan, Zinda Bhaag (dirs. Meenu Gaur, Farjad Nabi)
Palestine, Omar (dir. Hany Abu-Assad)
Peru, The Cleaner (dir. AdriÃ¡n Saba)
Philippines, Transit (dir. Hannah Espia)
Poland, Walesa (dir. Andrzej Wajda)
Portugal, Lines of Wellington (dir. Valeria Sarmiento)
Romania, Child’s Pose (dir. CÄƒlin Peter Netzer)
Russia, Stalingrad (dir. Fedor Bondarchuk)
Saudi Arabia, Wadjda (dir. Haifaa al-Mansour)
Serbia, Circles (dir. Srdan Golubovic)
Singapore, Ilo Ilo (dir. Anthony Chen)
Slovakia, My Dog Killer (dir. Mira Fornay)
Slovenia, Class Enemy (dir. Rok BiÄek)
South Africa, Four Corners (dir. Ian Gabriel)
South Korea, Juvenile Offender (dir. Kang Yi-kwan)
Spain, 15 Years and One Day (dir. Gracia Querejeta)
Sweden, Eat Sleep Die (dir. Gabriela Pichler)
Switzerland, More than Honey (dir. Markus Imhoof)
Taiwan, Soul (dir. Chung Mong-Hong)
Thailand, Countdown (dir. Nattawut Poonpiriya)
Turkey, The Butterfly’s Dream (dir. YÄ±lmaz ErdoÄŸan)
Ukraine, Paradjanov (dirs. Serge Avedikian, Olena Fetisova)
United Kingdom, Metro Manila (dir. Sean Ellis)
Uruguay, Anina (dir. Alfredo Soderguit)