List of Swiss submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

Switzerland has submitted 46 films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film^{[nb 1]} since their first entry in 1961. The award is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue.^[3]

Xavier Koller won the award for Journey of Hope.

As of 2021^[update], five Swiss films have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and two of these have won the award, most recently for the Turkish refugee drama Journey of Hope at the 1991 Academy Awards.

Submissions

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since 1956. The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via secret ballot to determine the five nominees for the award.^[3] Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by Switzerland for review by the academy for the award by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony.

The Swiss submission is decided annually by the Federal Office for Culture.^[4]

Since they began submitting regularly in 1972, they have only failed to enter a film on three occasions: 1977, 1978 and 2003. In 1994, the Swiss entered but were disqualified in a controversial ruling in which AMPAS determined that one of the favorites, Krzysztof Kieslowski's Red, was not a majority Swiss production.^[5]

Director Alain Tanner had had his films selected five times, but none have been nominated. Xavier Koller and Swiss-based French director Jean-Luc Godard have each been selected to represent Switzerland three times.

Switzerland has four official languages. Twenty-two of the Swiss submissions have been French-language films, while fourteen were in some variety of German, and only one in Italian, but none have been in Romansh. In addition, two Swiss submissions were in Turkish.

Year (Ceremony)	Film title used in nomination	Original title	Language(s)	Director	Result
1961 (34th)	The Shadows Grow Longer	Die Schatten werden länger	German	Ladislao Vajda	Not nominated
1970 (43rd)	First Love	Erste Liebe		Maximilian Schell	Nominated[6]
1972 (45th)	La Salamandre		French	Alain Tanner	Not nominated
1973 (46th)	L'Invitation			Claude Goretta	Nominated[7]
1974 (47th)	The Middle of the World	Le Milieu du monde		Alain Tanner	Not nominated
1975 (48th)	Confrontation	Konfrontation	Swiss German	Rolf Lyssy	Not nominated
1976 (49th)	Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000	Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000	French	Alain Tanner	Not nominated
1979 (52nd)	Les petites fugues	Les petites fugues		Yves Yersin	Not nominated
1980 (53rd)	Every Man for Himself	Sauve qui peut (la vie)		Jean-Luc Godard	Not nominated
1981 (54th)	The Boat Is Full	Das Boot ist Voll	German	Markus Imhoof	Nominated[8]
1982 (55th)	Yol		Turkish	Şerif Gören	Not nominated
1983 (56th)	In the White City	Dans la ville blanche	French	Alain Tanner	Not nominated
1984 (57th)	Dangerous Moves	La Diagonale du fou		Richard Dembo	Won Academy Award[9]
1985 (58th)	Alpine Fire	Höhenfeuer	Swiss German	Fredi Murer	Not nominated
1986 (59th)	Tanner	Der Schwarze Tanner		Xavier Koller	Not nominated
1987 (60th)	If the Sun Never Returns	Si le soleil ne revenait pas	French	Claude Goretta	Not nominated
1988 (61st)	La Méridienne			Jean-François Amiguet	Not nominated
1989 (62nd)	My Dear Subject	Mon cher sujet		Anne-Marie Miéville	Not nominated
1990 (63rd)	Journey of Hope	Reise der Hoffnung	Turkish, Swiss German, Italian	Xavier Koller	Won Academy Award[10]
1991 (64th)	Der Berg		German	Markus Imhoof	Not nominated
1992 (65th)	Off Season	Hors Saison	French	Daniel Schmid	Not nominated
1993 (66th)	The Diary of Lady M	Le Journal de Lady M		Alain Tanner	Not nominated
1994 (67th)	Three Colors: Red	Trois Couleurs: Rouge		Krzysztof Kieślowski	Disqualified[5]
1995 (68th)	Adultery: A User's Guide	Adultère, mode d'emploi		Christine Pascal	Not nominated
1996 (69th)	Les Agneaux			Marcel Schüpbach	Not nominated
1997 (70th)	For Ever Mozart			Jean-Luc Godard	Not nominated
1998 (71st)	War in the Highlands	La Guerre Dans le Haut Pays		Francis Reusser	Not nominated
1999 (72nd)	Beresina, or The Last Days of Switzerland	Beresina oder Die letzten Tage der Schweiz	Swiss German	Daniel Schmid	Not nominated
2000 (73rd)	Gripsholm		German	Xavier Koller	Not nominated
2001 (74th)	In Praise of Love	Éloge de l'amour	French	Jean-Luc Godard	Not nominated
2002 (75th)	Aime ton père			Jacob Berger	Not nominated
2004 (77th)	Mein Name Ist Bach	Mein Name Ist Bach	German	Dominique de Rivaz	Not nominated
2005 (78th)	Tout un Hiver sans Feu	Tout un Hiver sans Feu	French	Greg Zglinski	Not nominated
2006 (79th)	Vitus	Vitus	Swiss German	Fredi Murer	Made shortlist[11]
2007 (80th)	Late Bloomers	Die Herbstzeitlosen		Bettina Oberli	Not nominated
2008 (81st)	The Friend	Der Freund		Micha Lewinsky	Not nominated
2009 (82nd)	Home	Home	French	Ursula Meier	Not nominated
2010 (83rd)	La petite chambre	La petite chambre		Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond	Not nominated[12]
2011 (84th)	Summer Games[13]	Giochi d'estate	Italian	Rolando Colla	Not nominated
2012 (85th)	Sister[14]	L'Enfant d'en haut	French	Ursula Meier	Made shortlist[15]
2013 (86th)	More than Honey[16]	More than Honey	German	Markus Imhoof	Not nominated
2014 (87th)	The Circle[17]	Der Kreis		Stefan Haupt	Not nominated
2015 (88th)	Iraqi Odyssey[18]		Arabic	Samir	Not nominated
2016 (89th)	My Life as a Courgette[19]	Ma vie de Courgette	French	Claude Barras	Made shortlist[20]
2017 (90th)	The Divine Order[21]	Die göttliche Ordnung	German	Petra Biondina Volpe	Not nominated
2018 (91st)	Eldorado[22]			Markus Imhoof	Not nominated
2019 (92nd)	The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch[23]	Wolkenbruchs wunderliche Reise in die Arme einer Schickse	German, Yiddish	Michael Steiner	Not nominated
2020 (93rd)	My Little Sister[24]	Schwesterlein	German, French, English	Stéphanie Chuat, Véronique Reymond	Not nominated
2021 (94th)	Olga[25]		French, Ukrainian	Elie Grappe	Not nominated
2022 (95th)	A Piece of Sky[26]	Drii Winter	Swiss German	Michael Koch	Not nominated
2023 (96th)	Thunder[27]	Foudre	French	Carmen Jaquier	Not nominated
2024 (97th)	Queens[28]	Reinas	Spanish	Klaudia Reynicke	Pending

See also

• List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Academy Award-winning foreign language films
• Cinema of Switzerland

Notes

1. The category was previously named the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but this was changed to the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in April 2019, after the Academy deemed the word "Foreign" to be outdated.^[1][2]

References

1. "Academy announces rules for 92nd Oscars". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
2. "Academy Announces Rule Changes For 92nd Oscars". Forbes. Archived from the original on 27 May 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
3. "Rule Thirteen: Special Rules for the Foreign Language Film Award". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
4. http://www.swissfilms.ch/detail_n.asp?id=2137729389%5B‍%5D
5. "This year's foreign Oscar race reflects a growingly global medium". Hitfix. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
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14. Blaney, Martin (21 September 2012). "Ursula Meier's Sister entered for Oscar race". Screen International. EMAP. Archived from the original on 29 August 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
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16. "Le film "More than Honey" représentera la Suisse aux Oscars 2014". RTS Info. 19 September 2013. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
17. "Oscars: Switzerland Selects 'The Circle' for Foreign-Language Oscar". Hollywood Report. 22 September 2014. Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
18. "'Iraqi Odyssey' to represent Switzerland at Oscars". Swiss Info. 28 August 2015. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
19. Keslassy, Elsa (5 August 2016). "Switzerland Sends Claude Barras's 'My Life as a Courgette' to Foreign-Language Oscar Race". Variety. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
20. "Oscars: Nine Films Advance in Foreign-Language Race". Variety. 15 December 2016. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
21. Roxborough, Scott (4 August 2017). "Oscars: Switzerland Selects 'The Divine Order' for Foreign-Language Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
22. Anderson, Ariston (3 August 2018). "Oscars: Switzerland Selects 'Eldorado' for Foreign-Language Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 3 August 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
23. "Oscars: Switzerland Selects 'Wolkenbruch' for International Feature Film Category". Hollywood Reporter. 9 August 2019. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
24. Barraclough, Leo (28 August 2020). "Berlinale Film My Little Sister to Compete for International Feature Film Oscar". Variety. Archived from the original on 28 August 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
25. ""Olga" represents Switzerland in the competition for an Oscar". Archytele. 6 September 2021. Archived from the original on 11 April 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
26. Ramachandran, Naman; Hopewell, John (5 August 2022). "Oscars Race: Switzerland Submits 'A Piece of Sky' for Best International Feature Film". Variety. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
27. Bergeson, Samantha (4 August 2023). "International Oscar Race Begins as Switzerland's 'Thunder' Marks First 2024 Foreign Entry". IndieWire. Archived from the original on 4 August 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
28. Goodfellow, Melanie (25 September 2024). "Oscars: Switzerland Submits 'Reinas' To Best International Feature Film Category". Deadline. Retrieved 25 September 2024.

External links

• The Official Academy Awards Database
• The Motion Picture Credits Database
• IMDb Academy Awards Page