Alternative Oscars 2019: The Nominees & Winners For Every Category

14. Best Foreign Language Film

WINNER: Roma*

Like Best Documentary, the Best Foreign Film category is schizophrenic year-in and year-out. At least they're about 99.9% sure to give the gong to the rightful winner, Roma, this year, given that it's also a Best Picture nominee and therefore will streamroll this award in de facto fashion.

The Academy did also sensibly nominate Hirokazu Kore-eda's delightful drama Shoplifters, though none of the three other nominees - Capernaum, Cold War and Never Look Away - quite hit in the gut in the same way that our three replacement picks do.

Lee Chang-dong's South Korean mystery drama Burning is one of 2018's best films and should've been a front-runner for the category (it made the nine-film shortlist before missing out), Ali Abbasi's Swedish offering Border is a genre-bending fantasy like no other (and was nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling by the Academy, at least), and Gaspar Noé's provocative Climax is a startling near-masterwork (albeit too controversial for Academy tastes).

RUNNERS-UP:

2. Burning

3. Border

4. Climax

5. Shoplifters*