‘Emilia Pérez,’ ‘I’m Still Here’ Oscar nominations highlight continued power of Academy’s international membership

With 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best International Feature, Best Actress for Karla Sofia Gascón, and Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez broke the record for most Oscar nominations for a film not in the English language by three. As Best Actress nominees, Gascón and I’m Still Here star Fernanda Torres are the first pair of non-English performances nominated together in the category since 1966. As a Best Picture nominee, I’m Still Here is the first Brazilian film ever nominated in the category while Torres is only the second Brazilian actress nominated for Best Actress after her mother, Fernanda Montenegro. Thanks to Emilia Pérez and I’m Still Here, this is the seventh consecutive year when a non-English language film has received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, with Parasite remaining as the only winner thus far.

Those were some of the main headlines on Thursday morning after the 2025 Oscar nominations announcement. But for those who have paid attention to the Academy’s global efforts to increase its membership and diversity in its voting ranks, the outcomes likely hardly qualified as a total surprise. It’s estimated that more than 20 percent of the current Academy comprises international voters. 

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“I don’t think it’s a ‘trend’ — at least, I hope so,” Kaouther Ben Hania, an Oscar nominee last year for the documentary Four Daughters, told Variety in 2024 about the Academy’s increased focus on international projects. “With a more diverse membership, they can better reflect the global landscape of filmmaking and recognize a broader range of talent. This inclusivity not only enhances the credibility and relevance of the awards but also promotes cultural exchange and understanding.”

The strength of the Academy’s international vote was seen all over the 2025 nominations list — even beyond Emilia Pérez and I’m Still Here. The animated film Flow is a double nominee for Best International Feature and Best Animated Feature. French filmmakers Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez) and Coralie Fargeat (The Substance) are Best Director nominees. Russian actor Yura Borisov (Anora) was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Romanian-born star Sebastian Stan scored a nomination for Best Actor for The Apprentice, a film that was anecdotally pushed into the race thanks to an embrace from overseas voters. The controversial biopic about President Donald Trump had difficulty finding success with American audiences and industry groups, missing key nominations at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and Critics Choice Awards. But The Apprentice was rewarded with BAFTA Award nominations for Stan, Jeremy Strong, and its casting en route to Stan and Strong’s Oscar nominations on Thursday.

It all adds up to one of the most international group of Oscar nominees yet, perhaps a realization of what Parasite filmmaker Bong Joon-ho had once hoped could happen.

“I don’t think a single film can change things overnight, but the industry has undergone several changes in the past couple of years. With streaming services like Netflix and the proliferation of social media, we’re seeing a lot of cross-cultural, cross-continental exchanges in the industry and with cinema and with audiences. I think the entire society is going through a time when the language barrier isn’t as significant,” he said in an interview after the 2020 Oscar nominations were announced (and before Parasite won four awards). “I almost think that Parasite is benefitting from that general trend that’s going on. So I’m hopeful for the future of audiences’ reception to subtitles and foreign films. I think we’ll see more and more cases of things that are happening to Parasite.”

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