The Academy has narrowed its list of foreign language film contenders down to nine ahead of next month’s nominations. Though the idea of revealing Oscar long and shortlists is divisive at the best of times, this one certainly holds a few surprises.
Chile’s GLORIA is nowhere to be seen, with THE PAST (Iran’s Cannes prizewinner) METRO MANILA (UK) and more notably WADJDA (Saudi Arabia) glaring omissions. With over 76 countries submitting films for consideration this year, the final nine will be whittled down to five over the weekend of 10-12th January, after which the entire Academy will be invited to pick the winner for the first time ever.
For those fretting over BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR’s apparent snub, it wasn’t eligible this year due to its French release date. Oh, and if you’re asking, my money’s currently on Belgium.
Check out the remaining nine competitors below:
THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN (Belgium)
AN EPISODE IN THE LIFE OF AN IRON PICKER (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
THE MISSING PICTURE (Cambodia)
THE HUNT (Denmark)
TWO LIVES (Germany)
THE GRANDMASTER (Hong Kong)
THE NOTEBOOK (Hungary)
THE GREAT BEAUTY (Italy)
OMAR (Palestine)
