Oscars 2014: Shortlist of 9 announced for Foreign Language

Nine films remain in the race for the Foreign Language Oscar, the Academy announced Friday. The list was whittled down from submissions by a record 76 countries, including first-time entrants Moldova and Saudi Arabia, announced in October.

Nine films remain in the race for the Foreign Language Oscar, the Academy announced Friday.

The list was whittled down from submissions by a record 76 countries, including first-time entrants Moldova and Saudi Arabia, announced in October.

Here are the films, listed in alphabetical order by country:

• Belgium, "The Broken Circle Breakdown," Felix van Groeningen, director;
• Bosnia and Herzegovina, "An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker," Danis Tanovic, director;
• Cambodia, "The Missing Picture," Rithy Panh, director;
• Denmark, "The Hunt," Thomas Vinterberg, director;
• Germany, "Two Lives," Georg Maas, director;
• Hong Kong, "The Grandmaster," Wong Kar-wai, director;
• Hungary, "The Notebook," Janos Szasz, director;
• Italy, "The Great Beauty," Paolo Sorrentino, director;
• Palestine, "Omar," Hany Abu-Assad, director.

Austria, Canada, Chile, Denmark and Norway were the countries whose films were nominated last year.

Nominations for Foreign Language are done in two phases. The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the eligible films between mid-October and Dec. 16. The group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.

The five nominees are determined by specially invited committees in New York and Los Angeles. They will spend Friday, Jan. 10, through Sunday, Jan. 12, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.

New rules announced last year no longer require Foreign Language Film contenders to be exhibited in 35mm or DCP in their countries of origin, but still must be submitted to the Academy in those formats.

Oscar voting for nominations begins next Friday. We are 25 days away from the 86th Academy Awards nominations announcement, which will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT.

The 86th Academy Awards, for outstanding film achievements of 2013, will be presented on Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center, and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 225 countries worldwide.