César / Best Foreign Film
Winner and nominee of the French César film award in the category Best Foreign Film (Meilleur film étranger) since it was first awarded in 1976.
| statistics | Surname | number | year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most frequent awards | Clint Eastwood | 3 | 2004, 2006, 2010 |
| Most frequent nominations | Woody Allen | 10 | 1978, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2006, 2014 |
| Most frequent nominations without a win | Steven Spielberg | 5 | 1982, 1983, 1995, 1999, 2003 |
The films listed below are given with their German distribution title (if identifiable), followed by the original title in the respective national language, the production country (s) and the name of the director in brackets in italics. The original title is not mentioned if the German and original film titles are identical. The winners are highlighted first.
1970s
The Scent of Women (Profumo di donna) , Italy - Director: Dino Risi
- Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Federal Republic of Germany / Mexico / Peru - Director: Werner Herzog
- Nashville , USA - Director: Robert Altman
- Die Zauberflöte (Trollflöjten) , Sweden - Director: Ingmar Bergman
We were so in love ( C'eravamo tanto amati ), Italy - Director: Ettore Scola
- Barry Lyndon , United Kingdom - Director: Stanley Kubrick
- One flew over the cuckoo 's nest (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) , USA - Director: Miloš Forman
- Breed ravens… (Cría cuervos) , Spain - Director: Carlos Saura
A Special Day (Una Giornata particolare) , Italy - Director: Ettore Scola
- The American Friend , Federal Republic of Germany / France - Director: Wim Wenders
- Der Stadtneurotiker (Annie Hall) , USA - Director: Woody Allen
- Bread and Chocolate (Pane e cioccolata) , Italy - Director: Franco Brusati
The wooden shoe tree (L'Albero degli zoccoli) , Italy / France - Director: Ermanno Olmi
- Herbstsonate (Höstsonaten) , Sweden - Director: Ingmar Bergman
- Julia , USA - Director: Fred Zinnemann
- A wedding (A Wedding) , USA - Director: Robert Altman
1980s
Manhattan , USA - Director: Woody Allen
- Apocalypse Now , USA - Director: Francis Ford Coppola
- The Tin Drum , Federal Republic of Germany / France / Poland / Yugoslavia - Director: Volker Schlöndorff
- Hair , USA - Director: Miloš Forman
Kagemusha - The Shadow of the Warrior (Kagemusha) , Japan - Director: Akira Kurosawa
- Fame - The Road to Fame (Fame) , USA - Director: Alan Parker
- Kramer versus Kramer , USA - Director: Robert Benton
- The Rose , USA - Director: Mark Rydell
Der Elefantenmensch (The Elephant Man) , United Kingdom / USA - Director: David Lynch
- The fake , Federal Republic of Germany / France - Director: Volker Schlöndorff
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (Raiders of the Lost Ark) , USA - Director: Steven Spielberg
Victor / Victoria , United Kingdom / USA - Director: Blake Edwards
- ET the Extra-Terrestrial , USA - Director: Steven Spielberg
- The French Lieutenant's Woman (The French Lieutenant's Woman) , USA - Director: Karel Reisz
- Yol - Der Weg (Yol) , Turkey / Switzerland / France - directed by Şerif Gören and Yılmaz Güney
Fanny and Alexander (Fanny och Alexander) , Sweden / France / Federal Republic of Germany - Director: Ingmar Bergman
- Carmen , Spain - Director: Carlos Saura
- The Gods Must Be Crazy (The Gods Must Be Crazy) , Botswana - Director: Jamie Uys
- Tootsie , USA - Director: Sydney Pollack
Amadeus , USA - Director: Miloš Forman
- Greystoke : The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes , United Kingdom - Director: Hugh Hudson
- Maria's Lovers , USA - Director: Andrei Sergejewitsch Michalkow-Konschalowski
- Paris, Texas , France / West Germany - Director: Wim Wenders
The Purple Rose of Cairo , USA - Director: Woody Allen
- Susan… Desperately Wanted (Desperately Seeking Susan) , USA - Director: Susan Seidelman
- The Killing Fields - Schreiendes Land (The Killing Fields) , United Kingdom - Director: Roland Joffé
- Ran , Japan / France - Director: Akira Kurosawa
- Year of the Dragon (Year of the Dragon) , USA - Director: Michael Cimino
The Name of the Rose , France / Italy / Federal Republic of Germany - Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
- Hannah and Her Sisters , USA - Director: Woody Allen
- Out of Africa (Out of Africa) , USA - Director: Sydney Pollack
- Mission (The Mission) , United Kingdom - Director: Roland Joffé
- The Time After Midnight (After Hours) , USA - Director: Martin Scorsese
The Last Emperor (The Last Emperor) , France / Italy / United Kingdom - Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
- The sky over Berlin , Federal Republic of Germany / France - Director: Wim Wenders
- Fellinis Intervista (Intervista) , Italy - Director: Federico Fellini
- Black Eyes (Oci ciornie) , Italy - Director: Nikita Michalkow
- The Untouchables (The Untouchables) , USA - Director: Brian De Palma
Out of Rosenheim , Federal Republic of Germany / USA - Director: Percy Adlon
- Bird , USA - Director: Clint Eastwood
- Salaam Bombay! , United Kingdom / India / France - Director: Mira Nair
- Wrong Game with Roger Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) , USA - Director: Robert Zemeckis
1990s
Dangerous Liaisons (Dangerous Liaisons) , USA / United Kingdom - Director: Stephen Frears
- The time of the gypsies (Dom za vesanje) , United Kingdom / Italy / Yugoslavia - Director: Emir Kusturica
- Cinema Paradiso (Nuovo cinema Paradiso) , Italy / France - Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
- Sex, Lies and Video (Sex, Lies, and Videotape) , USA - Director: Steven Soderbergh
The Dead Poets Society , USA - Director: Peter Weir
- Good Fellas - Three Decades in the Mafia (Goodfellas) , USA - Director: Martin Scorsese
- Pretty Woman , USA - Director: Garry Marshall
- Taxi Blues (Taksi-Blyuz) , Soviet Union / France - Director: Pawel Lungin
- Tie me up! (¡Átame!) , Spain - Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Toto the hero (Toto le héros) , France / Belgium / Germany - director: Jaco Van Dormael
- Alice , USA - Director: Woody Allen
- The Dances with Wolves (Dances with Wolves) , USA - Director: Kevin Costner
- The Silence of the Lambs (The Silence of the Lambs) , USA - Director: Jonathan Demme
- Thelma & Louise , USA - Director: Ridley Scott
- Urga , France / Soviet Union - Director: Nikita Michalkow
High Heels (Tacones lejanos) , Spain / France - Director: Pedro Almodóvar
- Husbands and Wives (Husbands and Wives) , USA - Director: Woody Allen
- The Lover (L'Amant) , France / United Kingdom / Vietnam - Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
- The Player , USA - Director: Robert Altman
- Howards End (Howards End) , United Kingdom / Japan - Director: James Ivory
Das Piano (The Piano) , Australia / New Zealand / France - Director: Jane Campion
- Farewell, my concubine (Ba wang bie ji) , People's Republic of China / Hong Kong - Director: Chen Kaige
- Manhattan Murder Mystery , USA - Director: Woody Allen
- Raining Stones , UK - Director: Ken Loach
- The Snapper - Help a Baby! (The Snapper) , United Kingdom / Ireland - Director: Stephen Frears
Four Weddings and a Funeral (Four Weddings and a Funeral) , United Kingdom - Director: Mike Newell
- Dear Diary… (Caro diario) , Italy / France - Director: Nanni Moretti
- Pulp Fiction , USA - Director: Quentin Tarantino
- Schindler 's List , USA - Director: Steven Spielberg
- Short Cuts , USA - Director: Robert Altman
Land and Freedom , France / Spain / Germany / Italy - Director: Ken Loach
- The Bridges of Madison County (The Bridges of Madison County) , USA - Director: Clint Eastwood
- Smoke , Germany / USA / Japan - directed by Wayne Wang and Paul Auster
- Underground , France / Yugoslavia / Germany / Hungary - Director: Emir Kusturica
- The Usual Suspects (The Usual Suspects) , USA - Director: Bryan Singer
Breaking the Waves , Denmark / Sweden / France / Netherlands / Norway / Iceland - Director: Lars von Trier
- Fargo , USA - Directors: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
- Lies and Secrets (Secrets & Lies) , UK / France - Director: Mike Leigh
- The Postman (Il Postino) , Italy - Director: Michael Radford
- The Promise (La Promesse) , Belgium / France / Luxembourg - directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Brassed Off - With Timpani and Trumpets (Brassed Off) , United Kingdom / USA - Director: Mark Herman
- The English Patient (The English Patient) , USA - Director: Anthony Minghella
- Everyone Says I Love You (Everyone Says I Love You) , USA - Director: Woody Allen
- All Or Not (The Full Monty) , United Kingdom - Director: Peter Cattaneo
- Hana-Bi (Hana-bi) , Japan - Director: Takeshi Kitano
Life is beautiful (La Vita è bella) , Italy - Director: Roberto Benigni
- Central Station (Central do Brasil) , Brazil - Director: Walter Salles
- Das Fest ( Festen ), Denmark - Director: Thomas Vinterberg
- Saving Private Ryan (Saving Private Ryan) , USA - Director: Steven Spielberg
- Titanic , USA - Director: James Cameron
2000s
Everything about my mother (Todo sobre mi madre) , Spain / France - Director: Pedro Almodóvar
- Being John Malkovich , USA - Director: Spike Jonze
- Eyes Wide Shut , USA / United Kingdom - Director: Stanley Kubrick
- Ghost Dog - Der Weg des Samurai (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai) , USA / Germany / France - Director: Jim Jarmusch
- The Thin Red Line (The Thin Red Line) , USA - Director: Terrence Malick
In the Mood for Love (Fa yeung nin wa) , Hong Kong / France / Thailand - Director: Wong Kar-Wai
- American Beauty , USA - Director: Sam Mendes
- Billy Elliot - I Will Dance (Billy Elliot) , United Kingdom / France - Director: Stephen Daldry
- Dancer in the Dark , Denmark / Germany / Netherlands / USA / United Kingdom / France / Sweden / Finland / Iceland / Norway - Director: Lars von Trier
- Yi Yi - A One and a Two (Yi yi) , Taiwan / Japan - Director: Edward Yang
Mulholland Drive - Street of Darkness (Mulholland Drive) , France / USA - Director: David Lynch
- The Man Who Wasn't There , USA - Director: Joel Coen
- Moulin Rouge , Australia / USA - Director: Baz Luhrmann
- Traffic - Power of the Cartel (Traffic) , Germany / USA - Director: Steven Soderbergh
- My Son's Room (La Stanza del figlio) , Italy / France - Director: Nanni Moretti
Bowling for Columbine , USA - Director: Michael Moore
- In the intoxication of colors and love (Chihwaseon) , South Korea - Director: Im Kwon-taek
- Minority Report , USA - Director: Steven Spielberg
- Ocean's Eleven , USA - Director: Steven Soderbergh
- Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) , Japan - Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Mystic River , USA - Director: Clint Eastwood
- Elephant , USA - Director: Gus Van Sant
- Gangs of New York , USA - Director: Martin Scorsese
- The Hours - From Eternity to Eternity (The Hours) , USA - Director: Stephen Daldry
- The Return - The return (Woswraschtschenije) , Russia - Director: Andrei Zvyagintsev
Lost in Translation , USA / Japan - Director: Sofia Coppola
- 21 Grams (21 Grams) , USA - Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
- The Journey of the Young Che (Diarios de motocicleta) , USA / Germany / United Kingdom / Argentina / Chile / Peru - Director: Walter Salles
- Forget Me Not! (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) , USA - Director: Michel Gondry
- Fahrenheit 9/11 , USA - Director: Michael Moore
Million Dollar Baby , USA - Director: Clint Eastwood
- A History of Violence , USA - Director: David Cronenberg
- Match Point , United Kingdom / USA / Luxembourg - Director: Woody Allen
- The sea in me (Mar adentro) , Spain / France / Italy - Director: Alejandro Amenabar
- Walk on Water (ללכת על המים, Lalechet al haMajim) , Israel / Sweden - Director: Eytan Fox
Little Miss Sunshine , USA - Director: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
- Babel , USA, Mexico - Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
- Brokeback Mountain USA - Director: Ang Lee
- The Queen (The Queen) , United Kingdom / France / Italy - Director: Stephen Frears
- Volver - Returning (Volver) , Spain - Director: Pedro Almodóvar
The Lives of Others , Germany - Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
- 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days (4 luni, 3 săptămâni și 2 zile) , Romania - Director: Cristian Mungiu
- On the other hand , Germany - Director: Fatih Akin
- Heroes of the Night - We Own the Night (We Own the Night) , USA - Director: James Gray
- Deadly Promises - Eastern Promises (Eastern Promises) , USA / Canada / United Kingdom - Director: David Cronenberg
Waltz with Bashir (ואלס עם באשיר , Vals Im Bashir) , Israel - Director: Ari Folman
- Eldorado , Belgium - Director: Bouli Lanners
- Gomorrah - Journey into the Empire of Camorra (Gomorrah) , Italy - Director: Matteo Garrone
- Into the Wild (Into the Wild) , USA - Director: Sean Penn
- Lornas Schweigen (Le Silence de Lorna) , Belgium - directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
- There Will Be Blood , USA - Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
- Two Lovers , USA - Director: James Gray
2010s
Gran Torino , USA - Director: Clint Eastwood
- Avatar - Departure to Pandora (Avatar) , USA - Director: James Cameron
- Milk , USA - Director: Gus Van Sant
- I Killed My Mother (J'ai tué ma mère) , Canada - Director: Xavier Dolan
- Panique au village , Belgium - directed by Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar
- The White Ribbon - A German Children's Story , Germany / Austria / France / Italy - Director: Michael Haneke
- Slumdog Millionaire (Slumdog Millionaire) , United Kingdom - Director: Danny Boyle
The Social Network , USA - Director: David Fincher
- Inception , USA - Director: Christopher Nolan
- Invictus - Undefeated (Invictus) , USA - Director: Clint Eastwood
- Bright Star , New Zealand - Director: Jane Campion
- Heartbreakers (Les amours imaginaires) , Canada - Director: Xavier Dolan
- In her eyes (El secreto de aus ojos) , Argentina - Director: Juan José Campanella
- Illegal (Illégal) , Belgium - Director: Olivier Masset-Depasse
Nader and Simin - A Separation (جدایی نادر از سیمین Jodaeiye Nader az Simin) , Iran - Director: Asghar Farhadi
- Black Swan , USA - Director: Darren Aronofsky
- Drive , USA - Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
- The King's Speech , United Kingdom - Director: Tom Hooper
- The Boy with a Bicycle (Le gamin au vélo) , Belgium - directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
- The Woman Who Sings - Incendies (Incendies) , Canada - Director: Denis Villeneuve
- Melancholia , Denmark - Director: Lars von Trier
Argo , USA - Director: Ben Affleck
- À perdre la raison , Belgium / Luxembourg / France / Switzerland - Director: Joachim Lafosse
- Angels 'Share - The Angels' Share , United Kingdom / France / Belgium / Italy - Director: Ken Loach
- Bullhead (Rundskop) , Belgium - Director: Michaël R. Roskam
- The Queen and the Personal Doctor (En kongelig affære) , Denmark / Czech Republic / Germany / Sweden - Director: Nikolaj Arcel
- Laurence Anyways , Canada - Director: Xavier Dolan
- Oslo, August 31 (Oslo, August 31) , Norway - Director: Joachim Trier
The Broken Circle (The Broken Circle Breakdown) , Belgium - Director: Felix Van Groeningen
- Blancanieves , Spain / France - Director: Pablo Berger
- Blue Jasmine , USA - Director: Woody Allen
- Dead Man Talking , Belgium - Director: Patrick Ridremont
- Django Unchained , USA - Director: Quentin Tarantino
- La Grande Bellezza - The Great Beauty (La grande bellezza) , Italy - Director: Paolo Sorrentino
- Gravity , USA - Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Mommy , Canada - Director: Xavier Dolan
- 12 Years a Slave , USA - Director: Steve McQueen
- Boyhood , USA - Director: Richard Linklater
- Two days, one night (Deux jours, une nuit) , Belgium - directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
- Ida , Poland - Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
- Grand Budapest Hotel , USA - Director: Wes Anderson
- Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu) , Turkey - Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Birdman or ( The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) , USA - Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
- Son of Saul (Saul fia) , Hungary - Director: László Nemes Jeles
- I'm dead, make something of it! (Je suis mort mais j'ai des amis) , Belgium - directed by Guillaume Malandrin , Stéphane Malandrin
- Mia Madre , Italy - Director: Nanni Moretti
- Taxi Tehran (Taxi) , Iran - Director: Jafar Panahi
- The brand new testament (Le tout nouveau testament) , Belgium - Director: Jaco Van Dormael
- Ewige Jugend (Youth) , Italy - Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Ich, Daniel Blake (I, Daniel Blake) , United Kingdom - Director: Ken Loach
- Aquarius , Brazil / France - Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
- Bacalaureat , Romania - Director: Cristian Mungiu
- Simply the end of the world (Juste la fin du monde) , Canada / France - Director: Xavier Dolan
- Manchester by the Sea , USA - Director: Kenneth Lonergan
- Toni Erdmann , Germany / Austria - Director: Maren Ade
- The Unknown Girl (La Fille inconnue) , Belgium - directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Loveless (Нелюбовь), Russia - Director: Andrei Svjaginzew
- Dunkirk , United Kingdom / USA / France / Netherlands - Director: Christopher Nolan
- A royal exchange (L'Échange des princesses) , France / Belgium - director: Marc Dugain
- La La Land , USA - Director: Damien Chazelle
- The Nile Hilton Affair (The Nile Hilton Incident) , Sweden / Denmark / Germany / France - Director: Tarik Saleh
- Noces , Belgen / Pakistan / Luxembourg / France - Director: Stephan Streker
- The Square , Sweden / Germany / France / Denmark - Director: Ruben Östlund
Shoplifters - Familienbande , Japan - Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri , USA - Director: Martin McDonagh
- Capernaum - City of Hope , Lebanon - Director: Nadine Labaki
- Cold War - The Latitude of Love , Poland - Director: Paweł Pawlikowski
- Girl , Belgium - Director: Lukas Dhont
- Hannah , Brazil - Director: Andrea Pallaoro
- Nos batailles , Belgium, France - Director: Guillaume Senez
2020s
Parasite (Gisaengchung / 기생충) , South Korea - Director: Bong Joon-ho
- Sorrow and Glory (Dolor y Gloria) , Spain - Director: Pedro Almodóvar
- Young Ahmed (Le jeune Ahmed) , Belgium - directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
- Joker , United States - Director: Todd Phillips
- Lola vers la mer , Belgium, France - Director: Laurent Micheli
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood , United States - Director: Quentin Tarantino
- Il Traditore - As a key witness against the Cosa Nostra (Il traditore) , Italy, France, Germany, Brazil - Director: Marco Bellocchio