On Friday afternoon, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made its annual announcement of new awards rules and campaign promotional regulations for the upcoming 99th Oscars scheduled for Sunday, March 14, 2027. Those changes impact everything from which films are eligible for Best International Feature, to how many performances an actor can be nominated for in one year, and so on.
The change to the Best International Feature Film category is the most major, as it no longer requires nominees to be submitted by a country. While countries/regions around the world will still be able to make submissions for the category via the Academy-approved Selection Committees, a non-English language film can now be submitted for consideration by winning a qualifying award at an international film festival as specified in the International Feature Film Award Qualifying Festival List.
Qualifying festivals for the 99th Oscars are the Berlin International Film Festival (Golden Bear for Best Film), Busan International Film Festival (Busan Award – Best Film Award), Cannes Film Festival (Palme d’Or), Sundance Film Festival (World Cinema Grand Jury Prize), Toronto International Film Festival (Platform Award) and Venice International Film Festival (Golden Lion).
This rule change reflects a larger debate over Best International Feature Film submissions, ranging from frustration over 2023 Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall” not being eligible for the category, having not been submitted by France, to the trend of recent nominees like “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” and “It Was Just an Accident” only making it into the International Feature category by being European co-productions, despite both being set in Iran. Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi, the directors of the latter two films, are both Iranian dissidents, therefore making it incredibly unlikely for Iran to have ever submitted their films for Academy Awards-consideration, given government influence over the country’s official Oscar submission.
Additionally, the film will be now credited as the nominee rather than the country or region, and the award will be accepted by the director on behalf of the film’s creative team. The director’s name will be listed on the statuette plaque after the film title and, if applicable, the country or region. However, film festivals will not receive a statuette should one of their winners win Best International Feature Film, having been submitted via a festival award win.
Elsewhere, the Academy has changed the language to some category rules to account for AI use. For example, in the Acting categories, only roles credited in the film’s legal billing and demonstrably performed by humans with their consent will be considered eligible. And in the Writing categories, the rules codify that screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible.
This article will be updated shortly with more Academy Awards rule changes.
The 99th Oscars will air live on ABC on Sunday, March 14, 2026, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
Read on for the latest submission deadlines and additional key dates, including voting periods, for the 99th Academy Awards:
Thursday, August 13, 2026: First submission deadline for Animated Short Film, Documentary Feature Film, Documentary Short Film and Live Action Short Film categories
Thursday, September 17, 2026: First submission deadline for General Entry categories, Animated Feature Film, Best Picture and Representation and Inclusion Standards Entry (RAISE) form
Wednesday, September 30, 2026: Submission deadline for International Feature Film
Thursday, October 8, 2026: Final submission deadline for Animated Short Film, Documentary Short Film and Live Action Short Film categories
Wednesday, October 14, 2026: Submission deadline for Music (Original Song)
Thursday, October 15, 2026: Final submission deadline for Documentary Feature Film
Wednesday, November 4, 2026: Submission deadline for Music (Original Score)
Thursday, November 12, 2026: Final submission deadline for General Entry categories, Animated Feature Film, Best Picture and Representation and Inclusion Standards Entry (RAISE) form
January 8 – 10, 2027: Casting, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound and Visual Effects voting events (bake-offs)
Source:
www.indiewire.com
