The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released the shortlists for the 98th Academy Awards, and, as always, a good deal of attention was on the International Feature Film category. This year’s race is quite competitive, and U.S. distributor NEON pulled off a historic feat as five, yes, five of their releases made the 15-field cut. As expected, Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning “It Was Just An Accident” (France) made it, as did Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” (Norway), Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice” (South Korea), Oliver Laxe’s “Sirat” (Spain), and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent” (Brazil).
READ MORE: Wagner Moura Can’t Believe The History Behind “The Secret Agent” Is Already Being Forgotten
Other films that made the cut include Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab” (Tunisia), Shih-Ching Tsou’s “Left-Handed Girl” (Taiwan), Hasan Hadi’s “The President’s Cake” (Iraq), Dolores Fonzi’s “Belen” (Argentina), and Cherien Dabis’ “All That’s Left of You” (Jordan).
Acclaimed films that didn’t make the list include “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo” (Chile), “A Poet” (Colombia), “The Love That Remains” (Iceland), “Young Mothers” (Belgium), “Franz” (Poland), “Magellan” (Phillippines), and, most notably, “My Father’s Shadow” (United Kingdom), which has won numerous honors at the Gotham Awards, British Independent Film Awards, and the Cannes Film Festival.
In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote.
A complete list of this year’s 15 shortlisted films for the International Feature Film Oscar are as follows:
Argentina, “Belén”
Brazil, “The Secret Agent”
France, “It Was Just an Accident”
Germany, “Sound of Falling”
India, “Homebound”
Iraq, “The President’s Cake”
Japan, “Kokuho”
Jordan, “All That’s Left of You”
Norway, “Sentimental Value”
Palestine, “Palestine 36”
South Korea, “No Other Choice”
Spain, “Sirât”
Switzerland, “Late Shift”
Taiwan, “Left-Handed Girl”
Tunisia, “The Voice of Hind Rajab”
The 2026 Academy Award nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22.
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Editor-at-Large Gregory Ellwood is one of the entertainment industry's most respected journalists and critics. Based in Los Angeles, he's the only current awards expert who previously worked on Oscar campaigns at a major movie studio. Over the years, he has written for the LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vox, among others. He also co-founded the entertainment news site HitFix, which spawned a legion of influential Emmy and WGA Award-winning alumni.
