Oscars International Feature Race Tops 100 for the First Time: A Record 105 Films Enter First-Round Voting
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has assigned 105 films to members who volunteered to vote in the Best International Feature Film category, according to TheWrap, which obtained the assignment lists the Academy emailed to voters on Friday, October 16. The films were split into nine groups of 11 or 12 required-viewing titles. It is the first time submissions have reached triple digits, breaking the previous record of 93 eligible films set in 2020; qualifying totals had sat in the mid-to-high 80s for the past three years, with 88 in 2023, 85 in 2024 and 86 in 2025.
This year's slate includes the first-ever submissions from Cyprus, El Salvador and Rwanda, the first entry from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 29 years and the first from Sri Lanka in 17 years. The record total was also aided by a rule change: for the first time, films that won the top prize at six festivals (Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto and Busan) could qualify beyond the one-film-per-country limit. Seven films qualified through festivals, three of which were also their countries' official submissions.
Chinese-language and Asian entries include China's submission directed by Wen Muye, Hong Kong's Sons of the Neon Night from Juno Mak, Taiwan's A Foggy Tale from Chen Yu-hsun and Singapore's We Are All Strangers from Anthony Chen, alongside Japan's All of a Sudden by Ryusuke Hamaguchi and South Korea's Possible Love by Lee Chang-dong. Titles seen as strong shortlist contenders include Romania's Palme d'Or winner Fjord, Pawel Pawlikowski's Fatherland from Poland, Spain's La Bola Negra and France's submission Minotaur.
Members will vote for their 15 favorites from December 7 to 11, with the 15-film shortlist to be announced on December 15. The Academy's official final eligibility list will be released before shortlist voting begins, and some assigned films could still be ruled ineligible. The members-only Academy Screening Room currently carries 45 of the films, with more added every Friday. For the first time, the films are listed alphabetically by title rather than by country, as the award now goes to the film itself instead of the submitting country.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 奥斯卡颁奖礼举办地洛杉矶（Los Angeles）Dolby Theatre 内景（第95届奥斯卡颁奖礼现场，资料图）· Timothy A. Gonsalves 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0（维基共享资源）
