Canadian Submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
by PJohn9 | created - 22 Mar 2015 | updated - 02 Apr 2022 | PublicA list of all Canadian submissions. They are all films from Quebec except two.
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1. Drunken Birds (2021)
105 min | Drama
Willy's quest to find his long-lost love has brought him from Mexico to Montréal, as a seasonal worker. Destinies intersect, moments of magic realism arise, worlds collide, and tensions swell amidst the long days of physical labor.
Director: Ivan Grbovic | Stars: Jorge Antonio Guerrero, Hélène Florent, Claude Legault, Marine Johnson
Votes: 323
Submitted for the 94th Academy Awards. Not nominated
2. 14 Days, 12 Nights (2019)
99 min | Drama
Isabelle and her partner adopted Clara in Vietnam, who died several years after. In order to heal her wounds, Isabelle flies to Hanoi to discover the culture of Clara and meet her biological mother, who will later become her friend.
Director: Jean-Philippe Duval | Stars: Anne Dorval, Leanna Chea, François Papineau, Hiep Tran Nghia
Votes: 365
Submitted for the 93th Academy Awards. Not nominated
3. Antigone (I) (2019)
109 min | Crime, Drama
A modern adaptation of the classic Greek tragedy which falls within a social realism. To the law of men, the young Antigone apposes her own sets of values.
Director: Sophie Deraspe | Stars: Nahéma Ricci, Rachida Oussaada, Nour Belkhiria, Rawad El-Zein
Votes: 1,863
Submitted for the 92th Academy Awards. Not nominated
4. Family First (2018)
TV-MA | 87 min | Drama
JP and Vincent, two brothers from a dysfunctional family, get involved in their uncle's drug cartel. Things quickly start spiraling out of control for Vincent, the younger and more unstable of the two.
Director: Sophie Dupuis | Stars: Théodore Pellerin, Jean-Simon Leduc, Paul Ahmarani, Andres Alfaro
Votes: 585
Submitted for the 91th Academy Awards. Not nominated
5. Hochelaga, Land of Souls (2017)
100 min | History
Mohawk archaeologist Baptiste Asigny engages in a search for his ancestors following a tragic terrain slump in the Percival Molson Stadium.
Director: François Girard | Stars: Samian, Raoul Max Trujillo, Gilles Renaud, Siân Phillips
Votes: 559
Submitted for the 90th Academy Awards. Not nominated
6. It's Only the End of the World (2016)
97 min | Drama
Louis (Gaspard Ulliel), a terminally ill writer, returns home after a long absence to tell his family that he is dying.
Director: Xavier Dolan | Stars: Gaspard Ulliel, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, Vincent Cassel
Votes: 25,180
Submitted for the 89th Academy Awards. Made the Shortlist
7. Felix and Meira (2014)
R | 105 min | Drama, Romance
In Félix and Meira, an unusual romance blossoms between two lost souls who inhabit the same neighborhood but vastly different worlds.
Director: Maxime Giroux | Stars: Martin Dubreuil, Hadas Yaron, Luzer Twersky, Melissa Weisz
Votes: 1,639 | Gross: $0.45M
Submitted for the 88th Academy Awards. Not nominated
8. Mommy (I) (2014)
R | 139 min | Drama
A widowed single mother, raising her violent son alone, finds new hope when a mysterious neighbor inserts herself into their household.
Director: Xavier Dolan | Stars: Anne Dorval, Antoine Olivier Pilon, Suzanne Clément, Patrick Huard
Votes: 61,746 | Gross: $3.49M
Submitted for the 87th Academy Awards. Not nominated
9. Gabrielle (II) (2013)
R | 104 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Gabrielle is a young woman with Williams syndrome who has a contagious joie de vivre and an exceptional musical gift. Since she met her boyfriend Martin, at the recreation centre where they... See full summary »
Director: Louise Archambault | Stars: Gabrielle Marion-Rivard, Alexandre Landry, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Vincent-Guillaume Otis
Votes: 1,708
Submitted for the 86th Academy Awards. Not nominated
10. War Witch (2012)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, War
Somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, Komona, a 14-year-old girl, tells her unborn child growing inside her the story of her life since she has been at war. Everything started when she was abducted by the rebel army at the age of 12.
Director: Kim Nguyen | Stars: Rachel Mwanza, Alain Lino Mic Eli Bastien, Serge Kanyinda, Ralph Prosper
Votes: 7,563 | Gross: $0.07M
Submitted for the 85th Academy Awards. Nominated
11. Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
PG-13 | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
At a Montréal public grade school, an Algerian immigrant is hired to replace a popular teacher who committed suicide in her classroom. While helping his students deal with their grief, his own recent loss is revealed.
Director: Philippe Falardeau | Stars: Mohamed Fellag, Sophie Nélisse, Émilien Néron, Danielle Proulx
Votes: 21,182 | Gross: $2.01M
Submitted for the 84th Academy Awards. Nominated
12. Incendies (2010)
R | 131 min | Drama, Mystery, War
Twins journey to the Middle East to discover their family history and fulfill their mother's last wishes.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Mustafa Kamel
Votes: 199,524 | Gross: $6.86M
Submitted for the 83th Academy Awards. Nominated
13. I Killed My Mother (2009)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Romance
A semi-autobiographical story about Hubert as a young homosexual at odds with his mother.
Director: Xavier Dolan | Stars: Anne Dorval, Xavier Dolan, François Arnaud, Suzanne Clément
Votes: 31,400
Submitted for the 82th Academy Awards. Not nominated
14. Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (2008)
PG | 102 min | Drama
In 1952, an Inuit hunter named Tivii with tuberculosis leaves his northern home and family to go recuperate at a sanatorium in Quebec City. Uprooted, far from his loved ones, unable to ... See full summary »
Director: Benoit Pilon | Stars: Natar Ungalaaq, Éveline Gélinas, Paul-André Brasseur, Louise Marleau
Votes: 1,018
Submitted for the 81th Academy Awards. Made the Shortlist
15. Days of Darkness (2007)
104 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Jean-Marc Leblanc (Labrèche), a desperate civil servant, escapes reality as we know it by imagining himself as the hero in imaginary adventures.
Director: Denys Arcand | Stars: Marc Labrèche, Diane Kruger, Sylvie Léonard, Caroline Néron
Votes: 3,202
Submitted for the 80th Academy Awards. Made the Shortlist
16. Water (I) (2005)
PG-13 | 117 min | Drama
Set 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.
Director: Deepa Mehta | Stars: Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas, Sarala Kariyawasam
Votes: 15,353 | Gross: $3.22M
Submitted for the 79th Academy Awards. Not in French (Hindi) Nominated
17. C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)
Not Rated | 129 min | Comedy, Drama
A young French Canadian, one of five boys in a conservative family in the 1960s and 1970s, struggles to reconcile his emerging identity with his father's values.
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée | Stars: Michel Côté, Marc-André Grondin, Danielle Proulx, Émile Vallée
Votes: 34,106
Submitted for the 78th Academy Awards. Not nominated
18. The Far Side of the Moon (2003)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
After the death of his mother, a man tries to discover a meaning to his life, to the universe and to rebuild a relationship with the only family he has left: his brother.
Director: Robert Lepage | Stars: Robert Lepage, Anne-Marie Cadieux, Marco Poulin, Céline Bonnier
Votes: 1,978 | Gross: $0.01M
Submitted for the 77th Academy Awards. Not nominated
19. The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
During his final days, a dying man is reunited with old friends, former lovers, his ex-wife, and his estranged son.
Director: Denys Arcand | Stars: Rémy Girard, Dorothée Berryman, Stéphane Rousseau, Marie-Josée Croze
Votes: 30,019 | Gross: $3.43M
Submitted for the 76th Academy Awards. Won Academy Award
20. Soft Shell Man (2001)
102 min | Drama, Romance
An emotionally immature underwater photographer returns home to an affair with his best friend's deaf girlfriend and unresolved issues with the wife he left six months before.
Director: André Turpin | Stars: David La Haye, Isabelle Blais, Emmanuel Bilodeau, Chantal Giroux
Votes: 855
Submitted for the 75th Academy Awards. Not nominated
21. Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001)
R | 172 min | Drama
The telling of an Inuit legend of an evil spirit causing strife in the community and one warrior's endurance and battle of its menace.
Director: Zacharias Kunuk | Stars: Natar Ungalaaq, Sylvia Ivalu, Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq, Lucy Tulugarjuk
Votes: 6,858 | Gross: $3.79M
Submitted for the 74th Academy Awards. Not in French (Inuktitut) Not nominated
22. Maelstrom (2000)
R | 87 min | Drama
After plunging her car into a river, a woman encounters a man who helps her come to terms with her life.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Marie-Josée Croze, Jean-Nicolas Verreault, Stephanie Morgenstern, Pierre Lebeau
Votes: 7,290 | Gross: $0.03M
Submitted for the 73th Academy Awards. Not nominated
23. Set Me Free (1999)
94 min | Drama, Romance
In the year 1963, an awkward thirteen-year-old girl comes of age during her escapism into the world of cinema, with potentially dangerous results.
Director: Léa Pool | Stars: Karine Vanasse, Pascale Bussières, Predrag 'Miki' Manojlovic, Alexandre Mérineau
Votes: 1,074 | Gross: $0.07M
Submitted for the 72th Academy Awards. Not nominated
24. August 32nd on Earth (1998)
Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Romance
After surviving a car wreck virtually unscathed, a young model compels her best friend to impregnate her at the salt flats in Utah.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Pascale Bussières, Alexis Martin, Serge Thériault, Ivan Smith
Votes: 3,538
Submitted for the 71th Academy Awards. Not nominated
25. Cosmos (1996)
99 min | Comedy, Drama
Immigrant cabbie connects nervous filmmaker, lawyer, mystery man, possibly HIV+ gay man. Comedy and tragedy mingle, awash in philosophy.
Directors: Jennifer Alleyn, Manon Briand, Marie-Julie Dallaire, Arto Paragamian, André Turpin, Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Marie-Hélène Montpetit, Pascal Contamine, France Castel, Marie-France Lambert
Votes: 953
Submitted for the 70th Academy Awards. Not nominated
26. Sous-sol (1996)
90 min | Drama
Director: Pierre Gang | Stars: Louise Portal, Isabelle Pasco, Richard Moffatt, Patrice Godin
Votes: 98
Submitted for the 69th Academy Awards. Not nominated
27. The Confessional (1995)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
The year is 1952, in Québec City, Québec. Rachel (Suzanne Clément), sixteen, unmarried, and pregnant, works in the church. Filled with shame, she unburdens her guilt to a young Priest under... See full summary »
Director: Robert Lepage | Stars: Lothaire Bluteau, Patrick Goyette, Jean-Louis Millette, Kristin Scott Thomas
Votes: 1,634 | Gross: $0.58M
Submitted for the 68th Academy Awards. Not nominated
28. Mon amie Max (1994)
106 min | Drama
Catherine, a concert pianist, is surprised one night by the arrival of her best friend from childhood, Marie-Alexandrine (Max), whom she hasn't seen for 25 years. Catherine and Max were ... See full summary »
Director: Michel Brault | Stars: Geneviève Bujold, Marthe Keller, Johanne McKay, Marie Guillard
Votes: 214
Submitted for the 67th Academy Awards. Not nominated
29. Le sexe des étoiles (1993)
104 min | Drama
Camille don't like the man her mother is seeing. She still dreams about her father, who's living in New York. One day, she sees her mother arguing with a woman for some time. Camille ... See full summary »
Director: Paule Baillargeon | Stars: Marianne Coquelicot Mercier, Denis Mercier, Tobie Pelletier, Sylvie Drapeau
Votes: 241
Submitted for the 66th Academy Awards. Not nominated
30. Leolo (1992)
Not Rated | 107 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
The story of a young Canadian boy who tries to escape mentally from his disturbed family thanks to his fantasy and imagination.
Director: Jean-Claude Lauzon | Stars: Maxime Collin, Ginette Reno, Gilbert Sicotte, Julien Guiomar
Votes: 7,327 | Gross: $0.61M
Submitted for the 65th Academy Awards. Not nominated
31. A Bullet in the Head (1990)
89 min | Drama
A civilian and a soldier become unlikely allies in this allegorical examination of friendship and the evils of war. Filmed in Quebec, Canada.
Director: Attila Bertalan | Stars: Kathy Horner, Andrew Campbell, Jan Stychalsky, Victoria Sands
Votes: 152
Submitted for the 64th Academy Awards. Not nominated
32. Une histoire inventée (1990)
100 min | Drama
An irresistible woman, Florence, dragging her last 50 disconsolate lovers behind her. A trumpet in the end of his career, loved by Florence and the only one who had refuse her. An amateur ... See full summary »
Director: André Forcier | Stars: Jean Lapointe, Louise Marleau, Charlotte Laurier, Marc Messier
Votes: 159
Submitted for the 63th Academy Awards. Not nominated
33. Jesus of Montreal (1989)
R | 120 min | Drama, Romance
A group of actors put on an unorthodox, but acclaimed Passion Play which incites the opposition of the Catholic Church while the actors' lives themselves begin to mirror the Passion itself.
Director: Denys Arcand | Stars: Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening, Johanne-Marie Tremblay, Rémy Girard
Votes: 7,540 | Gross: $1.60M
Submitted for the 62th Academy Awards. Nominated
34. Les portes tournantes (1988)
101 min | Drama, Music
A quiet painter, separated from his wife for a year, receives a suitcase in the mail from his mother, whom he hasn't seen since infancy. He believes she abandoned him to his wealthy, ... See full summary »
Director: Francis Mankiewicz | Stars: Monique Spaziani, Gabriel Arcand, Miou-Miou, François Méthé
Votes: 198
Submitted for the 61th Academy Awards. Not nominated
35. Un zoo la nuit (1987)
115 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Marcel, recently released from prison, attempt to rebuild his relationship with his girlfriend Julie (now a prostitute) and especially his father Albert (who thinks he's been away on a long... See full summary »
Director: Jean-Claude Lauzon | Stars: Gilles Maheu, Roger Lebel, Corrado Mastropasqua, Lorne Brass
Votes: 772
Submitted for the 60th Academy Awards. Not nominated
36. The Decline of the American Empire (1986)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama
Sexual revelations emerge when a group of academics and their partners spend a weekend at a country retreat.
Director: Denys Arcand | Stars: Dominique Michel, Dorothée Berryman, Louise Portal, Pierre Curzi
Votes: 8,693 | Gross: $1.90M
Submitted for the 59th Academy Awards. Nominated
37. Jacques et novembre (1984)
72 min | Drama
Les derniers jours d'un homme qui filme avec humour sa propre mort. Un film surprenant et singulier comme il existe peu d'exemples dans notre cinématographique et qui s'impose par la démarche unique des deux réalisateurs.
Directors: Jean Beaudry, François Bouvier | Stars: Jean Beaudry, Marie Cantin, Carole Chatel, Carole Fréchette
Votes: 28
Submitted for the 58th Academy Awards. Not nominated
38. Sonatine (1984)
91 min | Drama
Two teenaged friends have separate difficult experiences that make the girls seriously consider suicide.
Director: Micheline Lanctôt | Stars: Pascale Bussières, Marcia Pilote, Pierre F. Fauteux, Kliment Denchev
Votes: 275
Submitted for the 57th Academy Awards. Not nominated
39. Bonheur d'occasion (1983)
123 min | Drama
In the early 1940s, Canada is a country at war and Florentine is a young woman, from a very poor family, looking for love. She meets two suitable men, a nice soldier from a good and wealthy... See full summary »
Director: Claude Fournier | Stars: Mireille Deyglun, Pierre Chagnon, Michel Forget, Marilyn Lightstone
Votes: 109
Submitted for the 56th Academy Awards. Not nominated
40. Les fleurs sauvages (1982)
152 min | Drama
Three generations of a family struggle to be open with each other during a week of summer vacation at their country cottage.
Director: Jean Pierre Lefebvre | Stars: Marthe Nadeau, Michèle Magny, Pierre Curzi, Claudia Aubin
Votes: 46
Submitted for the 55th Academy Awards. Not nominated
41. The Plouffe Family (1981)
227 min | Drama
The lives of the average Quebecois Plouffe family during the final years of the depression and through World War II.
Director: Gilles Carle | Stars: Gabriel Arcand, Rémi Laurent, Pierre Curzi, Juliette Huot
Votes: 481
Submitted for the 54th Academy Awards. Not nominated
42. Good Riddance (1980)
120 min | Drama
A woman is overwhelmed with having to deal with her emotionally unstable daughter, mentally-challenged brother and two suitors while simultaneously trying to run her small firewood business.
Director: Francis Mankiewicz | Stars: Charlotte Laurier, Marie Tifo, Germain Houde, Louise Marleau
Votes: 772
Submitted for the 53th Academy Awards. Not nominated
43. A Scream from Silence (1979)
96 min | Drama
A director and an editor, both woman, cannot work on a movie presenting the rape of a nurse without reacting on the scenes they're working on, the situation of womenhood in general, and the way the 'Justice' handle those cases of rape.
Director: Anne Claire Poirier | Stars: Julie Vincent, Germain Houde, Paul Savoie, Monique Miller
Votes: 196
Submitted for the 52th Academy Awards. Not nominated
44. J.A. Martin photographe (1977)
100 min | Drama
The wife of photographer J. A. Martin decides to go with him in his tour of the hard Canadian countryside at the turn of the century. She hopes the intimacy will revive their marriage.
Director: Jean Beaudin | Stars: Marcel Sabourin, Monique Mercure, Marthe Thierry, Catherine Tremblay
Votes: 399
Submitted for the 50th Academy Awards. Not nominated
45. Orders (1974)
109 min | Drama, History
A fact-based account of ordinary citizens who found themselves arrested and imprisoned without charge for weeks during the October Crisis in 1970 Quebec.
Director: Michel Brault | Stars: Hélène Loiselle, Jean Lapointe, Guy Provost, Claude Gauthier
Votes: 1,149
Submitted for the 48th Academy Awards. Not nominated
46. The True Nature of Bernadette (1972)
115 min | Comedy, Drama
A woman imbued with naturalistic and libertarian theories leaves her city home to live in the countryside with her young son. There she meets a litigious farmer who fights against the banks... See full summary »
Director: Gilles Carle | Stars: Micheline Lanctôt, Donald Pilon, Reynald Bouchard, Robert Rivard
Votes: 467
Submitted for the 45th Academy Awards. Not nominated
47. My Uncle Antoine (1971)
Not Rated | 104 min | Drama
Set in cold rural Quebec at Christmas time, we follow the coming of age of a young boy and the life of his family which owns the town's general store and undertaking business.
Director: Claude Jutra | Stars: Jacques Gagnon, Lyne Champagne, Jean Duceppe, Olivette Thibault
Votes: 3,183
Submitted for the 44th Academy Awards. Not nominated
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