A record 92 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 90th Academy Awards. First-time entrants this year include Haiti, Mozambique, Senegal, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and Syria.

Of note, with respect to this blog’s interests, in alphabetical order (by country), are the following submissions that you should have on your to-watch lists, whenever they become widely-accessible (of course we’ll keep you updated):

— Representing Algeria is Road to Istanbul from director Rachid Bouchareb. The French-Algerian drama film follows Elisabeth (star Astrid Whettnall), a mother who sets off to find her daughter, who has joined the Islamic State in Syria. It was shown in the Panorama section at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. At the 7th Magritte Awards, Whettnall received a trophy for Best Actress for her performance.

— Representing Dominican Republic is Woodpeckers from director Jose Maria Cabral, which centers on a prison inmate who uses sign language to communicate with his imprisoned girlfriend at an adjacent institution. The film screened in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival; it was the first Dominican feature film selected by the festival. The film stars Ramón Emilio Candelario and Judith Rodriguez Perez.

— Representing Egypt is Sheikh Jackson from director Amr Salama, which follows an Islamic cleric who likes to dress as Michael Jackson who is thrown into a tailspin in the wake of the famous singer’s death. Starring Ahmed El Fishawy, the film was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.

— Representing Haiti is Ayiti Mon Amour from director Guetty Felin. A tale of magical realism unfolds in Haiti, five years after a cataclysmic earthquake. A teenager discovers he has a superpower, an old fisherman seeks a cure at sea for his sick wife, and a character tries to escape a story penned by her author. Jaures Andris, Joakim Cohen and Anisia Uzeyman star in the film which was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

— Representing Kenya is Kati Kati from director Mbithi Masya. In the film, a young woman (played by Nyokabi Gethaiga), with no memory of her life or death, is helped with assimilation to the afterlife by a ghost (Elsaphan Njora). It screened at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival where it won the Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) for the Discovery program.

— Representing Morocco is Razzia from director Nabil Ayouch. The film weaves together 5 separate narrative threads, all tied to one tumultuous event on the streets of Casablanca. The cast includes Maryam Touzani, Arieh Worthalter, Amine Ennaji, Abdelilah Rachid, Dounia Binebine and Abdellah Didane. Razzia screened Toronto International Film Festival in the three-year-old Platform program, notably for original voices and visionary films.

— Representing Mozambique is The Train of Salt and Sugar, the latest film by celebrated Brazilian-born, Mozambican director Licínio Azevedo. Set in the civil-war-torn northern Mozambique during the late 80’s, the film was hailed by critics as the “first great African Western,” after it premiered in August last year at the Locarno Film Festival. It won the Independent Italian Critics Award (Boccalini d’Ouro) there for Best Film. The film stars Matamba Joaquim, Melanie de Vales Rafael, Thiago Justino, António Nipita and Sabina Fonseca.

— Representing Senegal is Alain Gomis’ Félicité, which stars Véronique Beya Mputu, Gaetan Claudia and Mpaka Longi, in a story that centers around a single mother, the titular Félicité, a singer in Kinshasa living with Samo, her 16-year-old son, who is at risk of losing his leg from an accident, unless she can come up with the money to pay for the operation. His leg will be amputated otherwise, sending Félicité on a city-wide quest to raise the necessary funds. The film has racked up top international film festival awards, including being named the best fiction feature film at the 14th edition of the African Film Festival of Tarifa and Tangier (FCAT 2017) – the festival’s highest prize – and winning the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, where it made its world premiere.

— Representing South Africa is John Trengove’s drama The Wound, which chronicles the initiation rites of a South African tribe, as tradition and modernity collide when an urbanized businessman from Johannesburg resolves to expose his 17-year-old son to the circumcision ceremony of his old tribe. The Wound stars multi-talented musician and novelist, Nakhane Touré in his first ever film-role, alongside Bongile Mantsai and Niza Jay Ncoyini. It was screened in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and the Panorama section of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

— Representing Tunisia is The Last of Us from director Ala Eddine Slim. Starring Fethi Akkari and Jahwar Soudani, the film, which is described as contemporary and surreal, follows a man named simply N. who travels through the desert of Sub-Saharan Africa, and by boat to Europe, where he becomes lost in a mysterious forest and is confronted by a mute old man.

Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.

The full list of 2017 submissions follow below:

Afghanistan, “A Letter to the President,” Roya Sadat, director;
Albania, “Daybreak,” Gentian Koçi, director;
Algeria, “Road to Istanbul,” Rachid Bouchareb, director;
Argentina, “Zama,” Lucrecia Martel, director;
Armenia, “Yeva,” Anahit Abad, director;
Australia, “The Space Between,” Ruth Borgobello, director;
Austria, “Happy End,” Michael Haneke, director;
Azerbaijan, “Pomegranate Orchard,” Ilgar Najaf, director;
Bangladesh, “The Cage,” Akram Khan, director;
Belgium, “Racer and the Jailbird,” Michaël R. Roskam, director;
Bolivia, “Dark Skull,” Kiro Russo, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Men Don’t Cry,” Alen Drljević, director;
Brazil, “Bingo – The King of the Mornings,” Daniel Rezende, director;
Bulgaria, “Glory,” Petar Valchanov, Kristina Grozeva, directors;
Cambodia, “First They Killed My Father,” Angelina Jolie, director;
Canada, “Hochelaga, Land of Souls,” François Girard, director;
Chile, “A Fantastic Woman,” Sebastián Lelio, director;
China, “Wolf Warrior 2,” Wu Jing, director;
Colombia, “Guilty Men,” Iván D. Gaona, director;
Costa Rica, “The Sound of Things,” Ariel Escalante, director;
Croatia, “Quit Staring at My Plate,” Hana Jušić, director;
Czech Republic, “Ice Mother,” Bohdan Sláma, director;
Denmark, “You Disappear,” Peter Schønau Fog, director;
Dominican Republic, “Woodpeckers,” Jose Maria Cabral, director;
Ecuador, “Alba,” Ana Cristina Barragán, director;
Egypt, “Sheikh Jackson,” Amr Salama, director;
Estonia, “November,” Rainer Sarnet, director;
Finland, “Tom of Finland,” Dome Karukoski, director;
France, “BPM (Beats Per Minute),” Robin Campillo, director;
Georgia, “Scary Mother,” Ana Urushadze, director;
Germany, “In the Fade,” Fatih Akin, director;
Greece, “Amerika Square,” Yannis Sakaridis, director;
Haiti, “Ayiti Mon Amour,” Guetty Felin, director;
Honduras, “Morazán,” Hispano Durón, director;
Hong Kong, “Mad World,” Wong Chun, director;
Hungary, “On Body and Soul,” Ildikó Enyedi, director;
Iceland, “Under the Tree,” Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, director;
India, “Newton,” Amit V Masurkar, director;
Indonesia, “Turah,” Wicaksono Wisnu Legowo, director;
Iran, “Breath,” Narges Abyar, director;
Iraq, “Reseba – The Dark Wind,” Hussein Hassan, director;
Ireland, “Song of Granite,” Pat Collins, director;
Israel, “Foxtrot,” Samuel Maoz, director;
Italy, “A Ciambra,” Jonas Carpignano, director;
Japan, “Her Love Boils Bathwater,” Ryota Nakano, director;
Kazakhstan, “The Road to Mother,” Akhan Satayev, director;
Kenya, “Kati Kati,” Mbithi Masya, director;
Kosovo, “Unwanted,” Edon Rizvanolli, director;
Kyrgyzstan, “Centaur,” Aktan Arym Kubat, director;
Lao People’s Democratic Republic, “Dearest Sister,” Mattie Do, director;
Latvia, “The Chronicles of Melanie,” Viestur Kairish, director;
Lebanon, “The Insult,” Ziad Doueiri, director;
Lithuania, “Frost,” Sharunas Bartas, director;
Luxembourg, “Barrage,” Laura Schroeder, director;
Mexico, “Tempestad,” Tatiana Huezo, director;
Mongolia, “The Children of Genghis,” Zolbayar Dorj, director;
Morocco, “Razzia,” Nabil Ayouch, director;
Mozambique, “The Train of Salt and Sugar,” Licinio Azevedo, director;
Nepal, “White Sun,” Deepak Rauniyar, director;
Netherlands, “Layla M.,” Mijke de Jong, director;
New Zealand, “One Thousand Ropes,” Tusi Tamasese, director;
Norway, “Thelma,” Joachim Trier, director;
Pakistan, “Saawan,” Farhan Alam, director;
Palestine, “Wajib,” Annemarie Jacir, director;
Panama, “Beyond Brotherhood,” Arianne Benedetti, director;
Paraguay, “Los Buscadores,” Juan Carlos Maneglia, Tana Schembori, directors;
Peru, “Rosa Chumbe,” Jonatan Relayze, director;
Philippines, “Birdshot,” Mikhail Red, director;
Poland, “Spoor,” Agnieszka Holland, Kasia Adamik, directors;
Portugal, “Saint George,” Marco Martins, director;
Romania, “Fixeur,” Adrian Sitaru, director;
Russia, “Loveless,” Andrey Zvyagintsev, director;
Senegal, “Félicité,” Alain Gomis, director;
Serbia, “Requiem for Mrs. J.,” Bojan Vuletic, director;
Singapore, “Pop Aye,” Kirsten Tan, director;
Slovakia, “The Line,” Peter Bebjak, director;
Slovenia, “The Miner,” Hanna A. W. Slak, director;
South Africa, “The Wound,” John Trengove, director;
South Korea, “A Taxi Driver,” Jang Hoon, director;
Spain, “Summer 1993,” Carla Simón, director;
Sweden, “The Square,” Ruben Östlund, director;
Switzerland, “The Divine Order,” Petra Volpe, director;
Syria, “Little Gandhi,” Sam Kadi, director;
Taiwan, “Small Talk,” Hui-Chen Huang, director;
Thailand, “By the Time It Gets Dark,” Anocha Suwichakornpong, director;
Tunisia, “The Last of Us,” Ala Eddine Slim, director;
Turkey, “Ayla: The Daughter of War,” Can Ulkay, director;
Ukraine, “Black Level,” Valentyn Vasyanovych, director;
United Kingdom, “My Pure Land,” Sarmad Masud, director;
Uruguay, “Another Story of the World,” Guillermo Casanova, director;
Venezuela, “El Inca,” Ignacio Castillo Cottin, director;
Vietnam, “Father and Son,” Luong Dinh Dung, director.

The 90th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

Best Foreign Language Film Submissions

Get relevant content delivered to you once a week