Since 1999, I have seen the five Oscar nominated Best Foreign Language Films. As history will tell, it would be hard to blame the typically staid Academy voters for preferring audience-friendly genres (family drama, epic films) and plots (children at war, historical dramas set in Europe, stories about elderly citizens) over movies with ingenious, unconventional narrative.
On January 15, a lot of eyebrows were raised and gasps were heard when high-profile, critically acclaimed entries from Romania, Korea, Mexico, Germany, and Spain were excluded from the shortlist of nine highest rated films from the 63 national submissions. How on earth can the Foreign Language Film board reject 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (Palme d'Or, 60th Cannes), Secret Sunshine (Best Actress, 60th Cannes), Silent Light (pictured, second from top) (Jury Prize co-winner, 60th Cannes), The Edge of Heaven (Best Screenplay, 60th Cannes), and The Orphanage is beyond me, really.
Here are the nine shortlisted films in contention for Best Foreign Language Film: (Boldfaced titles are the nominated five.)
Austria — The Counterfeiters — Stefan Ruzowitzky, director
Brazil — The Year My Parents Went On Vacation (pictured, top)— Cao Hamburger, director
Canada — Days of Darkness — Denys Arcand, director
Israel — Beaufort — Joseph Cedar, director
Italy — La Sconosciuta (The Unknown Woman) — Giuseppe Tornatore, director
Kazakhstan — Mongol — Sergei Bodrov, director
Poland — Katyń — Andrzej Wajda, director
Russia — 12 — Nikita Mikhalkov, director
Serbia — The Trap — Srdjan Golubovic, director
Other high profile submissions include:
XXY, Argentina
The Silly Age, Cuba
I Served The King Of England, Czech Republic
I Just Didn't Do It, Japan
Caramel, Lebanon
You The Living, Sweden
Though France's official entry Persepolis was not included in the shortlist, it was nominated for Best Animated Feature (though it lost to the much hyped, Paris set Ratatouille).
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