Oscars: Academy Unveils Foreign-Language Film Shortlist
The nine films include the Palme d'Or winner 'The Square,' but not Angelina Jolie's 'First They Killed My Father.'
The Academy on Thursday announced the nine films that will compete for a nomination for the best foreign-language film Oscar.
The shortlist includes a number of expected entries, like Ruben Ostlund's Swedish art-world satire The Square, which won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and the Russian drama Loveless, about a divorcing couple searching for their missing son and directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev, which won the Cannes Jury Prize.
But it also has some striking omissions: Angelina Jolie failed to earn a nomination for her film First They Killed My Father, which was submitted by Cambodia and also has earned a Golden Globe nomination. And the list also failed to find room for France's submission, Robin Campillo's BPM (Beats Per Minute), about AIDS activists, which won the Grand Prix prize at Cannes.
The shortlist of films was chosen from a record 92 titles that were submitted by their respective countries. The selected films will now screen for committees in New York, Los Angeles and London, which will cast the ballots for the film nominees in the category, to be announced Jan. 23.
The films on the shortlist, and their country of origin, are:
Chile, A Fantastic Woman, Sebastián Lelio, director
Germany, In the Fade, Fatih Akin, director
Hungary, On Body and Soul, Ildikó Enyedi, director
Israel, Foxtrot, Samuel Maoz, director
Lebanon, The Insult, Ziad Doueiri, director
Russia, Loveless, Andrey Zvyagintsev, director
Senegal, Félicité, Alain Gomis, director
South Africa, The Wound, John Trengove, director
Sweden, The Square, Ruben Östlund, director
The 90th Oscars will be held Sunday, March 4, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center and will be televised live on ABC. Nominations will be announced Tuesday, Jan. 23.