I enjoy reading all of the best-of-the-year movie lists that come out during this time, but they always require a major caveat: it’s highly unlikely that the writers of such lists have seen every single film in whatever category they’re evaluating. That’s certainly the case with my list of best foreign films of 2013. I’ve probably seen way more than the average American but I definitely haven’t come anywhere close to covering the moviemaking globe. Most films produced around the world sadly never see the light of day in this country, and the few that do are often skewed toward certain parts of the planet. My list definitely favors Europe, with entries from France, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Germany. I also have films from Israel and Australia. Appallingly, I don’t have any films from Asia, Africa or Central or South America on my list. Must make sure I see more films from those parts of the world in 2014. Anyone know if there’s a burgeoning film industry in Antarctica?

Earlier this week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences released its shortlist of nine films (out of 76 submissions) from which the nominees for the Foreign Language Oscar will be selected. That list only includes one of my selections below and has some notable omissions including Blue Is the Warmest Color (which was ineligible because it was released too late in France) and Iran’s The Past. The Academy’s shortlist includes the following films: The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium), An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker (Danis Tanovic), The Missing Picture (Cambodia), The Hunt (Denmark), Two Lives (Germany), The Grandmaster (Hong Kong), The Notebook (Hungary), The Great Beauty (Italy) and Omar (Palestine).

Here is my list of top 10 foreign films released in 2013 (in alphabetical order):

attackThe Attack (Belgium-Egypt-France). Written and directed by Ziad Doueiri; starring Ali Suliman, Uri Gavriel and Raymond Amsalem. This is an intelligent, thought-provoking film about an Arab surgeon living in Tel Aviv who discovers a shocking secret about his wife in the aftermath of a suicide bombing. I heard Doueiri speak about the film after a screening and admire the way he doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects or opinions. It’s not easy to make a film about this topic that doesn’t immediately label the “good” guys and the “bad” guys. The film has proved fairly controversial and has both admirers and virulent detractors on both sides. It’s banned in the director’s native Lebanon as well as most other Arab countries.

Augustine_1Augustine (France). Written and directed by Alice Winocour; starring Soko, Vincent Lindon and Chiaro Mastroianni. Set in the 1890s, this film examines the questionable relationship between famed French neurologist Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot and his star patient, a 19-year-old kitchen maid named Augustine who is left partially paralyzed after a seizure. Charcot puts Augustine on display in lecture-hall demonstrations to impress potential funders. Though illiterate, the young woman is savvy enough to understand her place in Charcot’s career and the two soon begin a back-and-forth dance in which it’s not always clear who’s in control. I spoke to actress/singer Soko last May.

bluewarmestcolorBlue Is the Warmest Color (France). Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche; written by Ghalia Lacroix and Abdellatif Kechiche; staring Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos. After winning the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, this film about the intense relationship between two women became mired in controversy, both because of its graphic sex scenes between the two women and the fact that stars Seydoux and Exarchopoulos criticized the working style of their director. The squabbles are unfortunate because as far as I’m concerned, this beautiful three-hour film is one of the best of the year — in any language. I attended the tense press day last October after which some of the actress’s allegations were published and spoke with Tunisian-French Abdellatif Kechiche about his experience making the film.

brokencirclebreakdownThe Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium). Directed by Felix Van Groeningen; written by Johan Heldenbergh, Mieke Dobbels, Carlos Joos and Van Groeningen, starring Veerle Baetens and Johan Heldenbergh. The last thing I ever expected to find in a Belgian film in Flemish was one of the best bluegrass soundtracks I’ve heard in years. I was very moved by this unique story of an offbeat tattoo artist and a banjo player in a bluegrass band who bond over their love of American music, fall deeply in love and then must grapple with a terrible, unexpected tragedy. Van Groeningen was named by Variety as one of “10 European Directors to Watch.” I sat down with Felix Van Groeningen last month to talk about his award-winning film.

fillthevoidFill the Void (Israel). Written and directed by Rama Burshtein, starring Hadas Yaron and Yiftach Klein. Set in a Chasidic community in modern-day Tel Aviv, this film focuses on an 18-year-old girl who must decide whether to marry her deceased older sister’s husband following the death of her sister in childbirth. It’s so rare that we get a true glimpse into this closed community and rarer still when the film is actually directed by an observant Chasidic woman. I was thrilled to get the chance to talk to Rama Burshtein last May after her remarkable film debuted at the Venice Film Festival. Burshtein is the first Orthodox Jewish woman ever to make a film intended for wide distribution. I also had a chance to talk to Hadas Yaron who won the Best Actress award at the Venice festival.

hautecuisineHaute Cuisine (France). Directed by Christian Vincent; written by Etienne Comar and Christian Vincent, starring Catherine Frot, Arthur Dupont and Jean d’Ormesson. Hortense Laborie is a celebrated chef living in the Périgord region of France. To her utter amazement, the President of France appoints her as his personal cook. She accepts reluctantly but then works hard to produce magnificent cuisine. The male chefs at the President’s residence are filled with resentment when Hortense arrives and cause her endless problems, but her indomitable spirit saves the day. I’ve always loved movies that show incredible food being prepared and all I can say is don’t go to this film hungry! It’s a fictionalized account of the life of Danièle Delpeuch who became the first female head chef at the Elysée Palace.

hijackingA Hijacking (Denmark). Written and directed by Tobias Lindholm; starring Pilou Asbæk and Dar Salim. A Danish cargo ship is attacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean and all of the men are taken hostage. In this taut, suspenseful film, a psychological drama unfolds between the pirates and the CEO of the Copenhagen-based shipping company. When I talked to writer/director Tobias Lindholm last June, he explained how the shooting conditions helped the actors playing the ship’s crew. “I basically treated them as hostages. Everybody on this team knew that we had a common goal to get as close to reality as possible and the actors helped by enduring all sorts of physical discomfort. They didn’t need to act as if they had to go to the bathroom, they didn’t need to act that they were hungry or thirsty!”

kontikiKon-Tiki (Norway). Directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg; written by Petter Skavlan; starring Pål Sverre Hagen, Agnes Kittelsen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen and Gustaf Skarsgård.This gorgeous historical epic tells the true story of Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl who, in 1947, with a tiny crew, sailed a balsa wood raft on a 4300-mile journey across the ocean from Peru to Polynesia to prove his theory that people from South America settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. Few expected Heyerdahl or his crew to make it across the ocean alive, but after some terrifying encounters with storms, sharks and other perils, the bedraggled men on the Kon-Tiki reached the shores of Polynesia three months later. I spoke with Pål Sverre Hagen who played Heyerdahl when the film opened last April.

loreLore (Australia-Germany). Directed by Cate Shortland; written by Cate Shortland and Robin Mukherjee; starring Saskia Rosendahl, Kai-Peter Malina and Nele Trebs. As the Allied forces sweep across Germany in the spring of 1945, a high-ranking SS officer and his wife are arrested by the victors. The couple’s 14-year-old daughter, Lore, must lead her four younger siblings on a harrowing journey across a devastated country to their grandmother’s house. When Lore meets a mysterious young refugee, she must confront her mixed feelings of hatred and desire. Despite her training as an enthusiastic Hitler Youth, will she be able to put her trust in the only person who can help her? I talked to director Cate Shortland about this unique film that looks at what happens to the children of perpetrators.

pastThe Past (Iran). Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, starring Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim and Ali Mosaffa.This is a beautiful film by the director of the Oscar-winning A Separation. While this film was Iran’s official entry for the Foreign Language Oscar, it is mostly in French and was shot in Paris. Returning to Paris after four years to finalize his divorce, an Iranian man gets involved with his soon-to-be-ex-wife and her children from a previous marriage. The woman is now in a relationship with another Arab man whose wife is in a coma. I was especially impressed by Bérénice Bejo’s stunning performance as the largely unsympathetic wife and mother.

Other foreign films from 2013 that I thought were excellent include Populaire (France), Wadjda (from one of the first female directors from Saudi Arabia), The Rocket (Australia) and War Witch (Canada but shot in Congo).