From my understanding, it was nominated but didn’t win. Even then, I’m not sure the film was considered as the Spanish entry simply on the weight of Bunuel. Submission of films for consideration is usually the responsibility of the country of production, or the country of origin of the production company. “That Obscure Object” was a Spanish/French co-production, from what I’ve read, which means it can be considered both Spanish and French for awards purposes. I suppose Spain had a greater share in the co-production and claimed the film as theirs, or maybe some kind of a deal was struck between the two Ministries of Culture – who knows. Regarding The Vanishing, I’m surprised the Academy would do that. Or perhaps I’m not so surprised.
Rossi
I find it odd that Obscure Object won the Best foreign language film oscar as Spain’s entry with most of the film being in French while The Vanishing was submitted by The Netherlands but was denied for having too much dialogue in French. This makes no sense. Did Obscure Object get a free pass for being a Bunuel film?