By Steve Pond at TheWrap
The Academy has released the final list of eligible films in the Best Foreign-Language Film category, with submissions from 63 countries making the cut.
The total is two less than last year’s record 65 entries.
TheWrap has compiled a master list of information about all the animated films, and links to their trailers: Oscar’s Foreign-Language Submissions: The Master List
This year’s crop includes “The Orator,” the first ever submission from New Zealand.
Missing from the list are a couple of films that were submitted by their countries but disqualified by the Academy’s foreign-language executive committee, which vets films to make sure the majority of their dialogue is in a language other than English, and the creative personnel hail from the country of origin.
Albania originally submitted “The Forgiveness of Blood,” for instance, but the committee disqualified the film.
Although the movie was shot in Albania and is in the Albanian language, several key crew members were American and British, including the U.S.-born director Joshua Marston (whose first film, “Maria Full of Grace,” was submitted by Colombia and disqualified for the same reason).
Upon learning of the disqualification, Albania immediately submitted another film, “Amnesty,” which was approved.
A submission from the Central African Republic was also disqualified, according to an Academy member with knowledge of the committee’s deliberations.
Among the notable entries: two animated films, the Czech Republic’s “Alois Nebel” and Singapore’s “Tatsumi”; the 3D dance documentary “Pina,” from Germany’s Wim Wenders; and works from such acclaimed international auteurs as Wenders, Bela Tarr (“The Turin Horse,” Hungary), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (“Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,” Turkey), Aki Kaurismaki (“Le Havre,” Finland) and Agnieszka Holland (“In Darkness,” Poland).
That last film is one of an unusually large number of entries from female directors.
The lineup also includes Leticia Tonos’ “Love Child” (the Dominican Republic), Valerie Donzelli’s “Declaration of War” (France), Ann Hui’s “A Simple Life” (Hong Kong), Juanita Wilson’s “As If I Am Not There” (Ireland), Nadine Labaki’s “Where Do We Go Now?” (Lebanon), Maria Peters’ “Sonny Boy” (the Netherlands), Anne Sewitzky’s “Happy, Happy” (Norway) and Pernilla August’s “Beyond” (Sweden).
“Pina” will be screened for voters in 3D, the first such screening in the category’s history. It is also competing in the Best Documentary Feature category, but in that category, first-round voters will view it on 2D screener DVDs.
As usual, the U.S. company with the strongest presence in the field is Sony Pictures Classics, which currently has the rights to four of the strongest contenders and likeliest nominees: Poland’s “In Darkness,” Israel’s “Footnote,” Iran’s “A Separation” and Lebanon’s “Where Do We Go Now?”
Volunteer members of the Academy, divided into four color-coded groups, will begin screening the submissions on Friday at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. After each screening, voters will score each film on a scale of six-to-10. They’ll have access to their scoresheets if they later reconsider and want to change their scores.
Once the screenings end in mid January and the six highest-scoring films are determined, an executive committee will meet and add three more films to the list to create a shortlist of nine semi-finalists.
Two select second-round committees will then view the nine films over a three-day period; their votes will determine the five nominees.
The full list, with directors:
Albania: “Amnesty,” Bujar Alimani
Argentia: “Aballay,” Fernando Spiner
Austria: “Breathing” (“Atmen”), Karl Markovics
Belgium: “Bullhead,” Michael R. Roskam
Bosnia and Herzegovina: “Belvedere,” Ahmed Imamovic
Brazil: “Elite Squad: The Enemy Within,” Jose Padilha
Bulgaria: “Tilt,” Viktor Chouchkov Jr
Canada: “Monsieur Lazhar,” Philippe Falardeau
Chile: “Violeta Went to Heaven,” Andres Wood
China: “The Flowers of War,” Zhamg Yimou
Colombia: “The Colors of the Mountain,” Carlos Cesar Arbelaez
Croatia: “72 Days,” Danilo Serbedzija
Cuba: “Habanastation,” Ian Padron
Czech Republic: “Alois Nebel,” Tomas Lunak
Denmark: “Superclasico,” Ole Christian Madsen
Dominican Republic: “Love Child,” Leticia Tonos
Egypt: “Lust” (“El Shooq”), Khaled El Hagar
Estonia: “Letters to Angel,” Sulev Keedus
Finland: “Le Havre,” Aki Kaurismaki
France: “Declaration of War,” Valerie Donzelli
Georgia: “Chantrapas,” Otar Iosseliani
Germany: “Pina,” Wim Wenders
Greece: “Attenberg,” Anthin Rachel Tsangari
Hong Kong: “A Simple Life,” Ann Hui
Hungary: “The Turin Horse,” Bela Tarr
Iceland: “Volcano,” Runar Runarsson
India: “Abu, Son of Adam,” Salim Ahamed
Indonesia: “Under the Protection of Ka’Bah,” Hanny R. Saputra
Iran: “A Separation,” Asghar Farhadi
Ireland: “As If I Am Not There,” Juanita Wilson
Israel: “Footnote,” Joseph Cedar
Italy: “Terraferma,” Emanuele Crialese
Japan: “Postcard,” Kaneto Shindo
Kazakhstan: “Returning to the ‘A’,”Egor Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky
Lebanon: “Where Do We Go Now?,” Nadine Labaki
Lithuania: “Back to Your Arms,” Kristijonas Vidziunas
Macedonia: “Punk Is Not Dead,” Vladimir Blazevski
Mexico: “Miss Bala,” Gerardo Naranjo
Morocco: “Omar Killed Me,” Roschdy Zem
The Netherlands: “Sonny Boy,” Maria Peters
New Zealand: “The Orator,” Tsui Tamasese
Norway: “Happy Happy,” Anne Sewitsky
Peru: “October,” Daniel Vega and Diego Vega
The Philippines: “The Woman in the Septic Tank,” Marlon Rivera
Poland: “In Darkness,” Agnieszka Holland
Portugal: “Jose and Pilar,” Miguel Goncalves Mendes
Romania: “Morgen,” Maria Crisan
Russia: “Burnt by the Sun 2: Citadel,” Nikita Mikalhkov
Serbia: “Montevideo: Taste of a Dream,” Dragan Bjelogrlic
Singapore: “Tatsumi,” Eric Khoo
Slovak Republic: “Gypsy,” Martin Sulik
South Africa: “Beauty,” Oliver Hermanus
South Korea: “The Front Line,” Jang Jun
Spain: “Black Bread,” Agusti Villaronga
Sweden: “Beyond,” Pernilla August
Switzerland: “Summer Games,” Rolando Colla
Taiwan: “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale,” Wei Te-Sheng
Thailand: “Kon Khon,” Sarunyu Wongkrachang
Turkey: “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,” Nuri Bilge Ceylan
United Kingdom: “Patagonia,” Marc Evans
Uruguay: “The Silent House,” Gustavo Hernandez
Venezuela: “Rumble of Stones,” Alejandro Bellame Palacios
Vietnam: “The Prince and the Pagoda Boy,” Luu Trong Ninh
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