List of Tunisian submissions for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film

Tunisia has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film^{[nb 1]} on an irregular basis since 1995. 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.^[3] As of 2021^[update], eight Tunisian films have been submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and only one, The Man Who Sold His Skin, was nominated for an Oscar.

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 Foreign Language Film since 1956. The Foreign Language Film Award 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.^[3] Below is a list of the films that have been submitted by Tunisia 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	Result
1995 (68th)	Le magique		Arabic, French	Azdine Melliti	Not nominated
2002 (75th)	The Magic Box	La Boîte magique	French, Arabic	Ridha Behi	Not nominated
2016 (89th)	As I Open My Eyes[4]	À peine j'ouvre les yeux	Tunisian Arabic, French	Leyla Bouzid	Not on the final list[5]
2017 (90th)	The Last of Us[6]		No dialogue	Ala Eddine Slim	Not nominated
2018 (91st)	Beauty and the Dogs[7]	على كف عفريت	Arabic	Kaouther Ben Hania	Not nominated
2019 (92nd)	Dear Son[8]	ولدي		Mohamed Ben Attia	Not nominated
2020 (93rd)	The Man Who Sold His Skin[9]	الرجل الذي باع ظهره	Arabic, English, French	Kaouther Ben Hania	Nominated[10]
2021 (94th)	Golden Butterfly[11]	الفراشة الذهبية	Arabic, French	Abdelhamid Bouchnak	Not nominated
2022 (95th)	Under the Fig Trees[12]	تحت الشجرة	Arabic	Erige Sehiri	Not nominated
2023 (96th)	Four Daughters[13]	بنات ألفة		Kaouther Ben Hania	Made shortlist

Tunisia's first two Oscar submissions were dramas with exceptionally similar plots, both revolving around the influence of cinema on the life of impressionable young Tunisian boys. Le Magique is a semi-autobiographical story, based on the life of director Melliti, in which a young boy is left home alone to watch over the family residence when his impoverished family emigrates to France. The boy discovers the joy of movies at a local cinema and begins to try and re-enact them (sans camera) with his friends. In The Magic Box, a Tunisian director in France is writing a screenplay based on his life as a boy in Tunisia, seen through flashbacks, in which his strict, religious father tried to instill different values in him than his more liberal film-loving uncles. Both films were primarily in French, with some Arabic dialogue.

See also

• List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Academy Award-winning foreign language films
• Cinema of Tunisia

Notes

1. The category was previously named the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but this was changed to the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in April 2019, after the Academy deemed the word "Foreign" to be outdated.^[1][2]

References

1. "Academy announces rules for 92nd Oscars". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
2. "Academy Announces Rule Changes For 92nd Oscars". Forbes. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
3. "Rule Thirteen: Special Rules for the Foreign Language Film Award". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 22 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
4. "Officiel : 'A peine j'ouvre les yeux' de Leyla Bouzid représentera la Tunisie aux Oscars 2016". Tuniscope. 22 September 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
5. "85 Countries In Competition For 2016 Foreign Language Film Oscar". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 11 October 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
6. "Oscars : Le CNCI propose "The last of us", le film de Ala Edine Slim - Kapitalis". Kapitalis. 27 September 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
7. Kozlov, Vladimir (19 September 2018). "Oscars: Tunisia Selects 'Beauty and the Dogs' for Foreign-Language Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
8. Kozlov, 2019 by Vladimir (27 August 2019). "Oscars: Tunisia Selects 'Dear Son' for International Feature Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
9. Keslassy, Elsa (20 November 2020). "'The Man Who Sold His Skin' to Represent Tunisia in International Oscar Race". Variety. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
10. "The full list of 2021 Oscars nominations". The Guardian. 15 March 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
11. "Oscars 2022: "Golden Butterfly" by Abdelhamid Bouchnak will represent Tunisia". News.in.24. 13 October 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
12. Driss, Neila (8 September 2022). "« Sous les figues » d'Erige Sehiri représentera la Tunisie à l'Oscar 2023 du Meilleur Film International". Webdo TN.
13. "Oscars 2024: Tunisia Picks Kaouther Ben Hania's 'Four Daughters' for International Feature Category". The Hollywood Reporter. 1 September 2023.

External links

• The Official Academy Awards Database
• The Motion Picture Credits Database