List of submissions to the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
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 Foreign Language Film every year since the award was created in 1956. The award is handed out annually by the Academy to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. The Foreign Language Film Award Committee oversees the process and reviews all the submitted films.
For the 81st Academy Awards, the Academy invited 96 countries to submit films for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Only one film was accepted from each country, and the deadline by which copies of all submitted films must be sent to the Academy was October 1, 2008. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its official list of submissions on October 17, 2008. Submission of a film does not mean automatic qualification for competition: the Academy has the final word on eligibility and has in the past disqualified several submissions.
The Oscar Foreign Film Committee began screening the foreign film entries on October 17, 2008. A shortlist of nine semi-finalists was announced January 13, 2009. Due to a new rule, only six films on the shortlist were decided based on the votes of the at-large committee. The other three were selected by the Academy's foreign film executive committee.
The official nominees were announced on January 22, 2009. The winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film was Japan's Departures.
Submissions
The following is based upon the official list by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.| Submitting country | Film title used in nomination | Original title | Language | Director | Result |
| Opium War | Opium War | Dari, English | |||
| The Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider | Trishtimi i zonjës Shnajder | Albanian, Czech | Eno Milkani and Piro Milkani | ||
| Masquerades | Mascarades | Algerian Arabic, French | |||
| Lion's Den | Leonera | Spanish | |||
| Revanche | Revanche | German | |||
| Fortress | Qala | Azeri | |||
| Aha! | আহা! | Bengali | |||
| Eldorado | Eldorado | French | |||
| Snow | Snijeg | Bosnian | |||
| Last Stop 174 | Última Parada 174 | Portuguese | |||
| Zift | Дзифт | Bulgarian | |||
| The Necessities of Life | Ce qu'il faut pour vivre Inuujjutiksaq | French, Inuktitut | |||
| Tony Manero | Tony Manero | Spanish | |||
| ' | 筑梦 | Mandarin | |||
| Dog Eat Dog | Perro come Perro | Spanish | |||
| No One's Son | Ničiji Sin | Croatian | |||
| The Karamazovs | Karamazovi | Czech, Polish | |||
| Worlds Apart | To verdener | Danish | |||
| The Island | الجزيرة | Egyptian Arabic | |||
| I Was Here | Mina olin siin. Esimene arest | Estonian | René Vilbre | ||
| The Home of Dark Butterflies | Tummien perhosten koti | Finnish | |||
| The Class | Entre les murs | French | |||
| Mediator | Mediator | German, Russian, English | |||
| The Baader Meinhof Complex | Der Baader Meinhof Komplex | German | |||
| Correction | Διόρθωση | Greek | |||
| Painted Skin | 畫皮 | Mandarin | |||
| Iska's Journey | Iszka utazása | Hungarian | |||
| White Night Wedding | Brúðguminn | Icelandic | |||
| Like Stars on Earth | Taare Zameen Par तारे ज़मीन पर | Hindi | |||
| The Song of Sparrows | آواز گنجشکها | Persian | |||
| Waltz with Bashir | ואלס עם באשיר | Hebrew | |||
| Gomorra | Gomorra | Neapolitan | |||
| Departures | おくりびと | Japanese | |||
| Captain Abu Raed | كابتن أبو رائد | Jordanian Arabic | |||
| Tulpan | Тюльпан | Kazakh | |||
| ' | Тенгри | Kyrgyz | |||
| Defenders of Riga | Rīgas sargi | Latvian | |||
| Under the Bombs | Sous les Bombes تحت القصف | Lebanese Arabic, French | |||
| Loss | Nereikalingi žmonės | Lithuanian | Māris Martinsons | ||
| Nuits d'Arabie | Nuits d'Arabie | French, Letzebuergesch | |||
 Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia | I'm From Titov Veles | Јас сум од Титов Велес | Macedonian | ||
| Tear This Heart Out | Arráncame la vida | Spanish | |||
| Goodbye Mothers | Adieu Mères | French, Moroccan Arabic | |||
| Dunya and Desi | Dunya en Desi in Marokko | Dutch, Moroccan Arabic | |||
| O' Horten | O' Horten | Norwegian | |||
| Salt of this Sea | ملح هذا البحر | Palestinian Arabic | |||
| Ploning | Ploning | Cuyonon, Filipino, Tagalog, Taiwanese | |||
| Tricks | Sztuczki | Polish | |||
| Our Beloved Month of August | Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto | Portuguese | |||
| The Rest is Silence | Restul e tăcere | Romanian | |||
| Mermaid | Русалка | Russian | |||
| The Tour | Turneja | Serbian | |||
| My Magic | My Magic | Tamil | |||
| Blind Loves | Slepé lásky | Slovak | |||
| Rooster's Breakfast | Petelinji zajtrk | Slovene | |||
| Jerusalema | Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa | ||||
| Crossing | 크로싱 | Korean | Kim Tae-kyun | ||
| The Blind Sunflowers | Los girasoles ciegos | Spanish | |||
| Everlasting Moments | Maria Larssons eviga ögonblick | Swedish | Jan Troell | ||
| The Friend | Der Freund | Swiss German | Micha Lewinsky | ||
| Cape No. 7 | 海角七號 | Taiwanese, Japanese, Mandarin | Wei Te-sheng | ||
| Love of Siam | รักแห่งสยาม | Thai | Chookiat Sakveerakul | ||
| Three Monkeys | Üç Maymun | Turkish | Nuri Bilge Ceylan | ||
| The Illusion of Fear | Ілюзія страху | Ukrainian | |||
| Hope Eternal | Hope Eternal | Welsh, Bemba, Swahili, French, German, English | |||
| Kill Them All | Matar a Todos | Spanish | Esteban Schroeder | ||
| The Color of Fame | El tinte de la fama | Spanish | Alejandro Bellame |
Not submitting
Bolivia and Puerto Rico, formally announced at the end of September that they would not be participating in this year's competition.Vietnam's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism launched an open call for films to represent the country, but only received one entry - Vuong Duc's Rừng đen. On September 29, the Ministry decided not to send any film since Forest did not meet Oscar requirements to have run one consecutive week in a commercial cinema.
Among the around 30 other countries invited, only six - Australia, Cuba, Indonesia, Iraq, Nepal and Peru - have had films accepted to the competition three or more times in the last ten years.