Taiwan (Republic of China) has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1957. The award is handed out annually by the United States Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. It was not created until the 1956 Academy Awards, in which a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was created for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since.
For the purposes of Oscar submissions, AMPAS recognizes China, Taiwan and Hong Kong as separate entities, and each one regularly submits a film to the competition. Taiwan became the first of the three ethnic Chinese entities to enter the competition in 1957.
As of 2026, Taiwan has been nominated three times, and won once for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, (2000).
Submissions
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film since 1956. The International Feature Film Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films. Following this, they vote via secret ballot to determine the five nominees for the award.
Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee had three films submitted, and all of them were nominated: The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The latter won the award in 2000, and was also nominated in other nine categories, including Best Picture.
In 2007, the country had initially selected Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, but AMPAS did not accept the film stating that it was not a majority-Taiwanese production. The film had won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was seen as an early favorite in the category. The film was also not selected by China.
Filmmakers Chen Kunhou and Hou Hsiao-hsien were also selected in three occasions to represent Taiwan, but neither of them received nominations.
Wei Te-sheng's Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale (2011), Chung Mong-hong's A Sun (2020), and Shih-Ching Tsou's Left-Handed Girl (2025), advanced to the December shortlists, but were not nominated.
Most of the submitted films are primary in Mandarin, Cantonese, or Taiwanese Hokkien. Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by Taiwan for review by the academy for the award by year and the respective Academy Awards ceremony.
Year(Ceremony) Film title used in nomination Original Title Language(s) Director(s) Result 1957(30th) Amina 阿美娜Mandarin Yuan Congmei 1964(37th) Lovers' Rock 情人石 Pan Lei 1966(39th) The Silent Wife 啞女情深 Lee Hsing 1972(45th) Execution in Autumn 秋決 1976(49th) Eight Hundred Heroes 八百壯士 Ting Shan-hsi 1980(53rd) The Legend of the Six Dynasty 六朝怪談 Wong Guk-gam 1981(54th) If I Were for Real 假如我是真的 Wang Toon 1982(55th) The Battle for the Republic of China 辛亥雙十 Ting Shan-hsi 1983(56th) Growing Up 小畢的故事 Chen Kunhou 1984(55th) Old Mao's Second Spring 老莫的第二個春天 Lee You-ning 1985(58th) Kuei-Mei, a Woman 我這樣過了一生 Chang Yi 1986(59th) The Heroic Pioneers 唐山過台灣 Lee Shing 1987(60th) Osmanthus Alley 桂花巷 Chen Kunhou 1988(61st) My Mother's Teahouse 春秋茶室 1989(62nd) A City of Sadness 悲情城市 Hou Hsiao-hsien 1990(63rd) Song of the Exile 客途秋恨Cantonese, Japanese, Mandarin, English 1991(64th) A Brighter Summer Day 牯嶺街少年殺人事件Mandarin, Shanghainese, Taiwanese Hokkien 1992(65th) Secret Love for the Peach Blossom Spring 暗戀桃花源Mandarin 1993(66th) The Wedding Banquet 喜宴Mandarin, English 1994(67th) Eat Drink Man Woman 飲食男女Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Japanese, Cantonese, Shanghainese 1995(68th) Super Citizen Ko 超級大國民Taiwanese Hokkien, Mandarin Wan Jen 1996(69th) Tonight Nobody Goes Home 今天不回家Mandarin 1997(70th) Yours and Mine 我的神經病Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, English Wang Siu-di 1998(71st) Flowers of Shanghai 海上花Cantonese, Shanghainese Hou Hsiao-hsien 1999(72nd) March of Happiness 天馬茶房Taiwanese Hokkien, Japanese, Mandarin, Shanghainese Lin Cheng-sheng 2000(73rd) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 臥虎藏龍Mandarin 2001(74th) The Cabbie 運轉手之戀Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien Chen Yiwen, Huakun Zhang 2002(75th) The Best of Times 美麗時光Mandarin, Hakka, Taiwanese Hokkien Chang Tso-chi 2003(76th) Goodbye, Dragon Inn 不散Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien Tsai Ming-Liang 2004(77th) 20 30 40 Mandarin 2005(78th) The Wayward Cloud 天邊一朵雲 Tsai Ming-Liang 2006(79th) Blue Cha Cha 深海 Chen Wen-Tang 2007(80th) Island EtudeTaiwan originally selected Lust, Caution, but AMPAS did not accept the film because it was not a majority-Taiwanese production 練習曲 Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, English, Lithuanian Chen Hwai-en 2008(81st) Cape No. 7 海角七號 Taiwanese Hokkien, Mandarin, Japanese Wei Te-sheng 2009(82nd) Cannot Live Without You 不能沒有你 Hakka, Taiwanese Hokkien, Mandarin Leon Dai 2010(83rd) Monga 艋舺 Taiwanese Hokkien, Mandarin Doze Niu 2011(84th) Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale 賽德克‧巴萊 Seediq, Japanese, Taiwanese Hokkien Wei Te-sheng 2012(85th) Touch of the Light 逆光飛翔 Mandarin Chang Rong-ji 2013(86th) Soul 失魂 Chung Mong-Hong 2014(87th) Ice Poison 冰毒 Southwestern Mandarin, Burmese Midi Z 2015(88th) The Assassin 刺客聶隱娘 Mandarin Hou Hsiao-hsien 2016(89th) Hang in There, Kids! 只要我長大 Mandarin, Atayal Laha Mebow 2017(90th) Small Talk 日常對話 Taiwanese Hokkien Huang Hui-chen 2018(91st) The Great Buddha+ 大佛普拉斯 Taiwanese Hokkien, Mandarin, English Huang Hsin-yao 2019(92nd) Dear Ex 誰先愛上他的 Mandarin Mag Hsu and Hsu Chih-yen 2020(93rd) A Sun 陽光普照 Chung Mong-hong 2021(94th) The Falls 瀑布 2022(95th) Goddamned Asura 該死的阿修羅 Lou Yi-an 2023(96th)Marry My Dead Body關於我和鬼變成家人的那件事 Mandarin, Taiwanese HokkienCheng Wei-hao 2024(97th) Old Fox 老狐狸 Hsiao Ya-chuan 2025(98th) Left-Handed Girl 左撇子女孩 Shih-Ching Tsou 2026(99th) A Foggy Tale 大濛 Chen Yu-hsun
See also Cinema of Taiwan List of Taiwanese films List of Academy Award-winning foreign language films List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best International Feature Film List of Chinese submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film List of Hong Kong submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
Notes
References
External links Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences