sfrink77
- May 16
- 4 min read

Guide to Watching Elite Foreign Films

I’ve previously written about the reasons I love foreign films. They are great insight into cultures throughout the world which I have always been fascinated by. However, I recognize how foreign films can be difficult to watch for some if subtitles are needed, or if the viewer has trouble relating to a story that is certainly different from traditional American cinema. I recognize that I have an advantage as I have the ability to read and comprehend the text faster than the average moviegoer. This is where a lot of people jump off the foreign film train as it becomes a game of keeping up with the text, while not really getting the chance to absorb the movie.

I’ve got a few tips to use to help fully immerse yourself in a movie in a foreign language. If you can get a dubbed version, that’s perfectly okay. I can’t stand dubs personally because it takes away from the original actor's tone and intonation, and it usually falls flat. If you’re watching a film with subtitles, I would suggest trying to find a balance between getting all the text while still absorbing the acting and visuals. Foreign films take more effort to watch than those in the English language. One needs to really lock in and shut out interruptions, so you can let your brain focus solely on the combination of reading and watching. To be honest, it takes some practice getting used to, but after having seen 1200 foreign films, or 12, you start gaining the ability to more fully absorb the film. For me, I barely even notice the difference between films with subs, and those without. As a history teacher I would show my students foreign documentaries, but I’d stop frequently to make sure everyone was caught up with the storyline. Even I had difficulties as a student when it came to foreign films, but this really is a practice makes somewhat perfect scenario.

Readers may be thinking that I was born with the inherent need for foreign films, but this love only first appeared during my college years. I was convinced that American films were so much better than any other country, and I didn’t give them an opportunity. Then one night in college, everything changed. I watched Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and fifteen minutes into the film I had a transformational realization of what a foreign film could represent based on what I had previously assumed was the substandard quality of non-American films. Also let me clarify that I’m not a big fan of anime, but Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli films are entirely different animation from classic anime as the visuals are stunningly gorgeous. To this day Spirited Away is my 3rd favorite film EVER. A great way for younger people to practice would be to dive into the Studio Ghibli catalog on Max. Every one of Miyazaki’s films has been dubbed by some of Hollywood’s finest actors, i.e. the brilliant all-star English voice dub of 2023 Oscar winner The Boy and the Heron. After seeing one of the amazing films in the Ghibli catalog a few times with the English Dub, I would suggest trying to watch the film in Japanese with subtitles. This way you will know the story making the subtitles less pivotal.

Little did I know that this one film would lead a decade’s long love of foreign film. As someone who has seen post WW2 filmmaking from both the US and Japan, I would argue the Japanese were actually making better films with film masters like Kurosawa and Uzo. With the advance of technology and video capture, countries from all over the world have been able to make great films with limited budgets. All one needs is a good story, good acting, and good technique in order to make a great film no matter the language, culture, or economics.

Now I’m going to give you a life hack for finding the best foreign films.

The Academy Awards are extremely helpful in terms of curating the best foreign films. Every year over a hundred countries submit what they believe to be their countries best film. That means a whole list of great foreign films from every year the award has been given. Even better, the Oscar’s now do a shortlist of the top 15 foreign films and then eventually settle on the top five. These lists can be found on Wikipedia for which I will give a step-by-step guide and what it can help with. You can see how I use this as a pivotal tool when deciding which movies to watch, as I will share a list of the films I’ve seen based on this method.

Step One: Search Wikipedia for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards

Academy Award for Best International Feature Film - Wikipedia

Step Two: Scroll to bottom of the page in the external links section and you’ll find a tab for Academy Award for Best International Feature Films. From there, select any year, for instance 2023. Or select any country and you’ll get every movie that country has ever submitted to the Oscars.

List of submissions to the 96th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film - Wikipedia

Here is a sample of what this will look like.

Submitting country	Film title used in nomination	Original title	Language(s)	Director(s)	Result
Albania	Alexander[8]	Albanian, English	Ardit Sadiku	Not nominated
Argentina	The Delinquents[9]	Los delincuentes	Spanish	Rodrigo Moreno	Not nominated
Armenia	Amerikatsi[10]	Ամերիկացի	Armenian, English, Russian	Michael A. Goorjian	Made shortlist

Step Three: Start with films that were nominated, and then go for the ones that made the 15-film shortlist. If you’re thinking finding these films is going to be a challenge, you would be shocked how many of the movies are on Netflix, Prime, Hulu, and Max.

Here is a sample of some great foreign films I’ve procured and watched just from the 2023 list, including the first movie I will have seen from a bunch of nations like, Panama, Guatemala, Nigeria, and Tunisia. I love having the ability to delve into different cultures, and movies are a universal way of showing the stories of different cultures and languages. It’s heaven for a History Major/Teacher like me and will be illuminating for those with an insatiable curiosity to learn as much as one can about the world they inhabit.

2023 Best Foreign Language film submissions for the Academy Awards

Costa Rica

I Have Electric Dreams[25]

Tengo sueños eléctricos

Spanish

Valentina Maurel

Not nominated

Kuolleet lehdet