They don’t necessarily have the A List Actor, big budgets or reems of breath taking special effects but what they do have in spades is great story-telling: these are the Oscar nominees for Best Foreign Language Film, which makes it just a little ironic for English speaking audiences. This year Oscar boasts a rich crop of nominees for Best Foreign Language Film from places as diverse and far away as Israel, Iran, Poland, Belgium and right next door, Canada.

Best Foreign Language Film Nominees:
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar
Bullhead
A Separation

Oscar began feting foreign language films in 1947 with an annual special award to an exceptional foreign language film; and in 1956 designated them as an official Oscar category, first won by Federico Fellini for his ground breaking film ‘La Strada’. The Italian maestro would go on to win three more and was joined by multiple winners and film masters Ingmar Bergmann, Akira Kurosawa and Vittorio De Sica. Francois Truffaut, Luis Bunuel, Jean Jacques Annaud, Pedro Almodovar and Canada’s own Denys Arcand have all taken the statuette in this category. And who could forget Ang Lee’shighly stylized martial arts romance ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ winner in 2000, or Roberto Benigni bounding up to the Oscar stage atop theatre seats in 1998 to receive his award for ‘Life is Beautiful’.

Each of these winning foreign language films and the now hundreds of nominees from every continent, winners in their own right, reflect the breadth and scope of cinematic art, that stories well told, especially those with subtitles can speak to the human condition no matter where we live and in what tongue we speak.

This year’s foreign language film nominees follow in this great tradition

Secrets of A ‘Best Foreign Language Film Oscar Winner’: 

This year’s foreign language film nominees follow in the great tradition of portraying the human condition through the narrative of film with power, subtly and sensitivity that defies borders, language and cultural divides.

From Iran, Asghar Farhadi’s ‘A Separation’ follows the inevitable emotional turmoil of a couple’s separation. It compels the audience to not only see the moral questions in a conflicted family but how we construct moral choices and their consequences. Farhadi’s camera lays bare in a matter of fact style the nuances of what he calls these “smaller problems”, ones we often fail to see until they irreparably disrupt our lives. Already winner of several awards including a Golden Globe and Spirit Award, ‘A Separation’ is emerging as a clear favourite in a strong field.