The Oscars: A Look Back at the Most Successful International Films
As we eagerly await the announcement of the winner for Best International Film at the upcoming US Academy Awards, let’s take a look back at the most successful countries in Oscar history for this category.
Italy takes the lead with 14 wins out of 32 nominations, making them the most successful country to receive this honor. However, France is not far behind, with 12 wins out of 41 nominations. While the French film industry has not had a night of glory for three decades, Japan ranks third, with five awards, the last two in 2009 and 2022.
The Oscar for Best International Film has been awarded since 1956, though originally, in 1947, it was an honorary award. During its tenure, the board awarded four prizes to Italy, France, and Japan, each winning three times.
In the video, two European countries, Spain and Denmark, celebrate that their films have been awarded four times each. Meanwhile, Sweden’s director Ingmar Bergman has won the award three times, while his country’s film industry has only received 16 Oscar nominations in this category.
Russian films have also collected four Oscars for Best Foreign Film, with three from the Soviet era.
While foreign films typically do not see much success in the Best Picture category, there have been two exceptions. The first is ‘The Artist’, a largely silent French film, which won in 2012. The second is the South Korean film ‘Parasite’, which made history by winning the award in 2020 as the first non-English-speaking winner.
This year, the German anti-war film “All Quiet on the Western Front” has the chance to make history, both from a language perspective and as the first film based on Erich Maria Remarque’s novel of the same title to receive an Oscar for Best Picture.
As we continue to celebrate and recognize international films, we look forward to seeing who will take home the award for Best International Film at this year’s Oscars.
