Female Directed Foreign Language Nominees
In 2010 Kathryn Bigelow made history becoming the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director, putting an end to a wait of 82 years since the first Academy Awards and 34 years since Lina Wertmüller was the first woman ever nominated for this to happen.
In 2021, Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell marked the first time there were two nominees in the category.
Making a place for themselves in the Best Director category has been a hard task, but it is not so well known that women have had more success in the International Film Award, where dozens of talented directors have gotten nominations and victories way before Bigelow's historic victory came to happen.
As of 2021, all continents except Oceania have had at least one female director in contention for the award.
This time, we look at this category and ask, which Oscar nominee for International Film directed by a woman is your favorite?
If you don't know them, which one would you like to watch the most?
Poll by Pencho15
Discuss Here
In 2021, Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell marked the first time there were two nominees in the category.
Making a place for themselves in the Best Director category has been a hard task, but it is not so well known that women have had more success in the International Film Award, where dozens of talented directors have gotten nominations and victories way before Bigelow's historic victory came to happen.
As of 2021, all continents except Oceania have had at least one female director in contention for the award.
This time, we look at this category and ask, which Oscar nominee for International Film directed by a woman is your favorite?
If you don't know them, which one would you like to watch the most?
Poll by Pencho15
Discuss Here
List activity
80 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
26 titles
- DirectorAstrid Henning-JensenStarsEdvin AdolphsonJimmy StermanAsbjørn AndersenYoung boy whose father was from Denmark and mother from a tropical island must live with his paternal aunt in Denmark. His skin color becomes an issue right away and he decides to escape and live in the forest.Directed by Astrid Henning-Jensen (Denmark)
- DirectorLina WertmüllerStarsGiancarlo GianniniFernando ReyShirley StolerThe defense of honor, a strong value in Neapolitan society, and its effects on the life of everyman Pasquale Frafuso.Directed by Lina Wertmüller (Italy)
- DirectorDiane KurysStarsMiou-MiouIsabelle HuppertGuy MarchandA Jewish refugee marries a soldier to escape deportation to Germany. Meanwhile a wealthy art student loses her first husband to a stray Resistance bullet; at the Liberation she meets an actor, gets pregnant, and marries him.Directed by Diane Kurys (France)
- DirectorMaría Luisa BembergStarsSusú PecoraroImanol AriasHéctor AlterioIn 1840's Buenos Aires, Argentina, a beautiful young socialite named Camila falls in love with Ladislao, a Jesuit priest. After several failed attempts at fighting his own feelings, he ultimately succumbs to her. The two later escape to a far off, secluded village where they assume new identities as husband and wife and begin running a children's school. After several months of relative happiness, the couple's identity is discovered by a local priest. Under moralistic pressure from both Camila's family and the Catholic church the authorities apprehend the lovers, and imprison them for sacrilege.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsArmin Mueller-StahlElisabeth TrissenaarWojciech PszoniakIn the winter of 1942-43, a Jewish family leaps from a train going through Silesia. They are separated in the woods, and Leon, a local peasant who's now a farmer of some wealth, discovers the woman, Rosa, and hides her in his cellar. Leon's a middle-aged Catholic bachelor, tormented by his sexual drive. He doesn't tell Rosa he's seen signs her husband is alive, and he begs her to love him. Rosa offers herself to Leon if he'll help a local Jew in hiding who needs money. Leon pays, and love between Rosa and him does develop, but then Leon's peasant subservience and his limited empathy lead to tragedy. At the war's end, a ray of sunshine comes from an unexpected place.Directed by Agnieszka Holland (West Germany)
- DirectorColine SerreauStarsRoland GiraudMichel BoujenahAndré DussollierJacques, Pierre, and Michel are three adult friends who enjoy single life until they find themselves stuck with a baby.Directed by Coline Serreau (France)
- DirectorMira NairStarsShafiq SyedAnjaanAmrit PatelYoung Krishna struggles to survive among the drug dealers, pimps, and prostitutes in the back alleys and gutters of India.
- DirectorMarleen GorrisStarsWilleke van AmmelrooyJan DecleirVeerle van OverloopA Dutch matron establishes and, for several generations, oversees a close-knit, matriarchal community where feminism and liberalism thrive.
- DirectorNana DzhordzhadzeStarsPierre RichardNino KirtadzeMicheline PresleThe story of Pascal Ichak, a larger-than-life French traveller, bon vivant, and chef, who falls in love with Georgia and a Georgian princess in the early 1920s. All is well until the arrival of the Red Army of the Caucasus, as the Soviet revolution that has swept Russian comes to Georgia. Told as a flashback from the present, as a French-Georgian man whose mother was Pascal's lover translates his memoirs for Pascal's niece.Directed by Nana Dzhordzhadze (Georgia)
- DirectorBerit NesheimStarsMarie TheisenHildegun RiiseBjørn SundquistThe Other Side of Sunday criticizes the small, and often tight church community. We follow the Preachers Daughter; Maria, in her journey to liberate herself from the stiff church community and her strict religious father.Directed by Berit Nesheim (Norway)
- DirectorCaroline LinkStarsSylvie TestudTatjana TriebHowie SeagoSince the earliest days in her childhood Lara has had a difficult but important task. Both her parents are deaf-mute and Lara has to translate from sign-language to the spoken word and vice versa when her parents want to communicate with other people. Getting older and more mature she becomes interested in music and starts to play clarinet very successfully. However her parents are deaf, they cannot share Lara's musical career. The day comes when Lara has to decide between her parents and her own ambitions.Directed by Caroline Link (Germany)
- DirectorAgnès JaouiStarsAnne AlvaroJean-Pierre BacriAlain ChabatThe lives of 6 people over 35 in Rouen, France, and their relationship to each other.Directed by Agnès Jaoui (France)
- DirectorCaroline LinkStarsJuliane KöhlerMerab NinidzeMatthias HabichDue to Hitler's threat, Walter Redlich, a Jewish lawyer, immigrates to Kenya with his wife Jettel and daughter Regina. Things take a turn when the family is ordered to move by the British officers.
- DirectorPaula van der OestStarsSylvia PoortaAnneke BlokMonic HendrickxZus & Zo shows what three sisters are willing to do to stop their would-be sister-in-law from coming into possession of Paraíso, their beloved family summer home on the Portuguese coast.Directed by Paula van der Oest (Netherlands)
- DirectorCristina ComenciniStarsGiovanna MezzogiornoLuigi Lo CascioAlessio BoniSabina has a regular life. She is satisfied with her job and her love for Franco. But nightmares start disturbing her, at almost the same time she discovers that she's pregnant. Little by little she remembers her childhood in a severe middle-class family, but a big secret is still hidden in her heart. Determined to bring clarity and serenity to her life, she considers contacting her brother, a University teacher in the U.S.A., to try to understand what happened in their past. What is the secret? Will Sabina finally manage to free herself from the "beast inside her heart"?Directed by Cristina Comencini (Italy)
- DirectorDeepa MehtaStarsLisa RayJohn AbrahamSeema BiswasSet in colonial India against Gandhi's rise to power, it's the story of 8-year-old Chuyia, who is widowed and sent to a home to live in penitence; once there, Chuyia's feisty presence deeply affects the lives of the other residents.Directed by Deepa Mehta (Canada)
- DirectorSusanne BierStarsMads MikkelsenSidse Babett KnudsenRolf LassgårdA manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.Directed by Susanne Bier (Denmark)
- DirectorClaudia LlosaStarsMagaly SolierSusi SánchezEfraín SolísFausta is suffering from a rare disease called the Milk of Sorrow, which is transmitted through the breast milk of pregnant women who were abused or raped during or soon after pregnancy. While living in constant fear and confusion due to this disease, she must face the sudden death of her mother. She chooses to take drastic measures to not follow in her mother's footsteps.Directed by Claudia Llosa (Peru)
- DirectorSusanne BierStarsMikael PersbrandtTrine DyrholmMarkus RygaardThe lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsRobert WieckiewiczBenno FürmannAgnieszka GrochowskaA dramatization of one man's rescue of Jewish refugees in the German-occupied Polish city of Lvov.Directed by Agnieszka Holland (Poland)
- DirectorMaren AdeStarsSandra HüllerPeter SimonischekMichael WittenbornA practical joking father tries to reconnect with his hard working daughter by creating an outrageous alter ego and posing as her CEO's life coach.Directed by Maren Ade (Germany)
- DirectorIldikó EnyediStarsAlexandra BorbélyGéza MorcsányiRéka TenkiWhen slaughterhouse workers Endre and Mária discover they share the same dreams, where they meet in a forest as deer and fall in love, they decide to make their dreams come true, but it's difficult in real life.Directed by Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary)
- DirectorNadine LabakiStarsZain Al RafeeaYordanos ShiferawBoluwatife Treasure BankoleWhile serving a five-year sentence for a violent crime, a 12-year-old boy sues his parents for neglect.Directed by Nadine Labaki (Lebanon)
- DirectorTamara KotevskaLjubomir StefanovStarsHatidze MuratovaNazife MuratovaHussein SamThe last female bee-hunter in Europe must save the bees and return the natural balance in Honeyland, when a family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood.Directed by Tamara Kotevska (North Macedonia)
- DirectorJasmila ZbanicStarsJasna DjuricicIzudin BajrovicBoris LerAida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp.Directed by Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- DirectorKaouther Ben HaniaStarsYahya MahayniDea LianeKoen De BouwHis own body turned into a living work of art and promptly exhibited in a museum, Sam, a Syrian refugee, will soon realize to have sold away more than just his skin.