The following 21 films, all from different countries, were submitted for the 48th Academy Awards in the category Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film which took place in 1976. The highlighted titles were the five nominated films, which came from Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland and the USSR. The Soviet Union won the award for a second time, for Japanese co-production Dersu Uzala, directed by Akira Kurosawa.
| Country | Film title used in nomination | Language | Original title | Director | IMDB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algeria | Chronicle of the Years of Embers | (Arabic) | Chronique des années de braise | Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina | [1] |
| Argentina | Nazareno Cruz and the Wolf | (Spanish) | Nazareno Cruz y el lobo | Leonardo Favio | [2] |
| Brazil | Ogum's Amulet | (Portuguese) | O Amuleto de Ogum | Nelson Pereira dos Santos | [3] |
| Canada | Orders | (French) | Les Ordres | Michel Brault | [4] |
| Czechoslovakia | Circus in the Circus | (Czech) | Cirkus v cirkuse | Oldrich Lipsky | [5] |
| Denmark | Per | (Danish) | Per | Hans Kristensen | [6] |
| Egypt | I Want a Solution | (Arabic) | أريد حلاً | Said Marzouk | [7] |
| France | India Song | (French) | India Song | Marguerite Duras | [8] |
| West Germany | Every Man For Himself and God Against All | (German) | Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle | Werner Herzog | [9] |
| Greece | The Travelling Players | (Greek) | Ο Θίασος | Theodoros Angelopoulos | [10] |
| Hungary | Adoption | (Hungarian) | Örökbefogadás | Márta Mészáros | [11] |
| Israel | My Michael | (Hebrew) | מיכאל שלי | Dan Wolman | [12] |
| Italy | Scent of a Woman | (Italian) | Profumo di donna | Dino Risi | [13] |
| Japan | Sandakan No. 8 | (Japanese) | サンダカン八番娼館 望郷 | Kei Kumai | [14] |
| Mexico | Letters from Marusia | (Spanish) | Actas de Marusia | Miguel Littin | [15] |
| Netherlands | Dr. Pulder Sows Poppies | (Dutch) | Dokter Pulder zaait papavers | Bert Haanstra | [16] |
| Poland | Land of Promise | (Polish) | Ziemia obiecana | Andrzej Wajda | [17] |
| Spain | Poachers | (Spanish) | Furtivos | José Luis Borau | [18] |
| Switzerland | Confrontation | (German) | Konfrontation | Rolf Lyssy | [19] |
| Soviet Union | Dersu Uzala | (Russian) | Дерсу Узала | Akira Kurosawa | [20] |
| Yugoslavia | The Day That Shook the World | (Serbo-Croatian) | Sarajevski atentat | Veljko Bulajić | [21] |