Germany has submitted films for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film^{[nb 1]} since the creation of the award in 1956. The award is handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue.^[3]

Each year, the Academy invites countries to submit their best films for competition according to strict rules, with only one film being accepted from each country.^[3] However, because of Germany's status as a divided country throughout much of the second half of the 20th century, West Germany and East Germany competed separately in the Best Foreign Language Film category until 1990. With eight nominations and one win,^[4] West Germany was far more successful than East Germany, whose only nomination was received in 1976 for Jacob the Liar, a film which the Moscow International Film Festival had refused to screen.^[5] West Germany received four consecutive nominations during the first years of the award's existence. It fared less well in the 1960s, as all of its submissions failed to garner a nomination. The advent of New German Cinema led to an improvement of German cinema's reputation abroad. As a result of this, West Germany received several nominations during the 1970s, culminating with The Tin Drum's victory in 1979.^[6]

West Germany and East Germany were formally reunited on 3 October 1990.^[7] The 63rd Academy Awards, held on 25 March 1991,^[8] were thus the first at which Germany was able to participate as a single country. Reunified Germany has been successful in the Best International Feature Film category, securing three wins and nine nominations in three decades.^[4] The three German films that received the award since reunification are All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) by Edward Berger, The Lives of Others (2006) by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and Nowhere in Africa (2001) by Caroline Link. Donnersmarck and Link are the only two German directors to have had more than one film selected and nominated in this category. Several other German films have received Academy Awards in categories other than Best International Feature Film.^[a]

According to Academy rules, the selection of each country's official submission has to be made by "one organization, jury or committee that should include artists and/or craftspeople from the field of motion pictures".^[3] In Germany's case, the selection committee and procedure are organized by the Munich-based German Films Service + Marketing GmbH, known as Export-Union of German Cinema until 2004.^[9] Film producers and distributors can submit a film for consideration to German Films, which verifies the completeness of the application and the compliance with Academy rules. A committee composed of representatives of nine different German film institutions and film industry trade groups selects a film for submission to the Academy.^[b] German Films is not represented in the committee and concentrates solely on the organizational aspects.^[10] Although East Germany used to submit films sparingly, West Germany and later reunified Germany have been regular participants, and have sent a film to the Academy in every year except from 1962 to 1964 and in 1991. The refusal of the selection committee to submit a film in 1991 was highly controversial.^[c] The selection of The White Ribbon in 2009 also caused a minor controversy.^[d]

Every year since 2006, Germany has announced a list of finalists that varied in number over the years (from 4 to 17 films) before announcing its official Oscar nominee, except in the years 2008, 2009 and 2017 where an official list was not announced. The following films have been shortlisted by the Germany's selection committee:

• List of Academy Award winners and nominees for Best Foreign Language Film