List of German submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Germany has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film since the creation of the award in 1956. The award is handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue.

Each year, the Academy invites countries to submit their best films for competition according to strict rules, with only one film being accepted from each country. However, because of Germany's status as a divided country throughout much of the second half of the 20th century, West Germany and East Germany competed separately in the Best Foreign Language Film category until 1990. With eight nominations and one win, West Germany was far more successful than East Germany, whose only nomination was received in 1976 for Jacob the Liar, a film which the Moscow International Film Festival had refused to screen. West Germany received four consecutive nominations during the first years of the award's existence. It fared less well in the 1960s, as all of its submissions failed to garner a nomination. The advent of New German Cinema led to an improvement of German cinema's reputation abroad. As a result of this, West Germany received several nominations during the 1970s, culminating with The Tin Drum's victory in 1979.

West Germany and East Germany were formally reunited on 3 October 1990. The 63rd Academy Awards, held on 25 March 1991, were thus the first at which Germany was able to participate as a single country. Reunified Germany has been successful in the Best Foreign Language Film category, securing two wins and eight nominations in less than two decades. The two German films that received the award since reunification are The Lives of Others (2006) by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and Nowhere in Africa (2001) by Caroline Link, the only German director to have more than one film nominated for the award. Several other German films have received Academy Awards in categories other than Best Foreign Language Film.

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