The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of the United States (AMPAS), the body that bestows the Academy Awards, announced the shortlists for 12 categories on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, including “Best International Feature,” according to Variety.
Academy members voted in the preliminary selection in several categories, including “international feature film”, “animated short”, “documentary feature”, “documentary short”, “live action short”, “makeup and hair”, “soundtrack”, “original song”, “sound” and “visual effectsThis year, for the first time, shortlists were also introduced for the categories “the best cast” and “best picture”.
The most nomination proposals – seven each – received their films ““Sinners” and “Wicked: For Good,” followed by “Frankenstein”with six proposals.
Romania’s proposal for the Oscar Awards did not make it to the short list of the Film Academy
The movie “The Robbery of the Century” / “Traffic”, directed by Teodora Ana Mihai and written and produced by Cristian Mungiu, Romania’s official proposal in the category “best international feature film”, was not shortlisted. The film is based on a real robbery from 2012, when a group of Romanians stole famous paintings from a museum in the Netherlands. Later, the media reported that some of the works were burned in a village in Dobrogea. Among the signatories of the stolen works were some of the world’s greatest painters, such as Matisse and Picasso.
List of international feature films selected for Oscar 2026:
- “Belen” (Argentina)
- “The Secret Agent” (Brazil)
- “It Was Just an Accident” (France)
- “Sound of Falling” (Germany)
- “Homebound” (India)
- “The President’s Cake” (Iraq)
- “Kokuho” (Japan)
- “All That’s Left of You” (Jordan)
- “Sentimental Value” (Norway)
- “Palestine 36” (Palestine)
- “No Other Choice” (South Korea)
- “Sirat” (Spain)
- “Late Shift” (Switzerland)
- “Left Handed Girl” (Taiwan)
- “The Voice of Hind Rajab” (Tunisia)
The final voting process for the 2026 Oscar nominations will begin on January 12 and end on January 16. The official list of nominations will be announced on January 22, 2026.
Conan O’Brien will return to host the ceremony, which will take place in Los Angeles on March 2, 2026.
