BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language facts for kids

The BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language is a special prize given each year by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). This award celebrates amazing movies from around the world that are not made in English. It's like a big "thank you" to filmmakers who create wonderful stories in other languages.

This award was first given out at the 36th British Academy Film Awards for films released in 1982. For a while, until 1990, it was known as the Best Foreign Language Film. Before this award existed, films not in English could still win the main BAFTA Award for Best Film.

Understanding the BAFTA International Film Award

This special BAFTA award honors films that bring diverse cultures and stories to audiences. It highlights movies that are made in languages other than English. These films come from many different countries, showing the variety of filmmaking talent worldwide.

How Films Win This Special Award

Each year, several films are nominated for this award, but only one takes home the prize. The films are judged based on the year they were released. The awards ceremony itself happens the following year. For example, a film released in 2025 was celebrated at the 2026 BAFTA Awards.

     indicates the winner Over the years, many talented directors and producers have been recognized. For instance, Francesco Rosi won the very first award in 1982 for his film Christ Stopped at Eboli. Later, directors like Akira Kurosawa from Japan won for Ran in 1986. Giuseppe Tornatore from Italy won for Cinema Paradiso in 1990. These films show how stories from different countries can touch hearts everywhere.

More recently, films like Parasite from South Korea won in 2019. All Quiet on the Western Front from Germany won in 2022. These winners highlight the incredible variety and quality of films made outside of English-speaking countries. The most recent winner for a film released in 2025 was Sentimental Value, directed by Joachim Trier from Norway.

Directors Who Won Multiple Times

Some directors have been so successful that they have won this award more than once. Here are the directors who have won multiple times:

Countries with Winning Films

This table shows which countries have had films win or be nominated for this special BAFTA award.

Images for kids

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  Francesco Rosi was the first winner of this category in 1982 winning for Christ Stopped at Eboli.

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  Andrzej Wajda won for Danton (1983).

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  István Szabó won for Colonel Redl (1985).

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  Akira Kurosawa won for Ran (1986).

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  Andrei Tarkovsky won for The Sacrifice (1987).

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  Gabriel Axel won for Babette's Feast (1988).

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  Giuseppe Tornatore won for Cinema Paradiso (1990).

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  Zhang Yimou won twice for Raise the Red Lantern (1992) and To Live (1994).

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  Walter Salles won twice for Central Station (1998) and The Motorcycle Diaries (2004).

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  Pedro Almodóvar won thrice for All About My Mother (1999), Talk to Her (2002), and The Skin I Live In (2011).

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  Ang Lee won for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

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  Alejandro González Iñárritu won for Amores perros (2001).

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  Michael Winterbottom won for In This World (2003).

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  Jacques Audiard won thrice for The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005), A Prophet (2009), and Emilia Perez (2025).

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  Guillermo del Toro won for Pan's Labyrinth (2006).

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  Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck won for The Lives of Others (2007).

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  Philippe Claudel won for I've Loved You So Long (2008).

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  Michael Haneke won for Amour (2012).

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  Paolo Sorrentino won for The Great Beauty (2013).

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  Pawel Pawlikowski won for Ida (2014).

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  Damian Szifron won for Wild Tales (2015).

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  László Nemes won for Son of Saul (2016).

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  Park Chan-wook won for The Handmaiden (2017).

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  Alfonso Cuarón won for Roma (2018).

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  Bong Joon-ho won for Parasite (2019).

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  Ryusuke Hamaguchi won for Drive My Car (2021).

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  Edward Berger won for All Quiet on the Western Front (2022).

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  Jonathan Glazer won for The Zone of Interest (2023).

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:BAFTA a la mejor película de habla no inglesa para niños

• Academy Award for Best International Feature Film
• César Award for Best Foreign Film