Nine Films Make Up 2014 Oscar Foreign Language Film Short List

Nine films from around the world have made it through to the short list for potential nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s upcoming Academy Awards.

As usual, there are some films whose presence on the list comes as no surprise as much as other films’ absence from the list such as Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster. But as happens, there are a few notable omissions including Asghar Farhadi’s The Past (Iran), Yuval Adler’s Bethlehem (Israel) and Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Wadjda (Saudi Arabia). One of the fall’s most buzzed about films, France’s Blue Is The Warmest Color was ineligible for the category because its distributor did not release it in its home country by the rules’ October 1st deadline, although it is eligible to compete in other categories. It would be eligible for nomination next year in the Foreign Language category.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

• 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.

In a press release, the Academy describes how the nomination process works for the category –

The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based Academy members, screened the original submissions in the category between mid-October and December 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 shortlist will be winnowed down to the five nominees by specially invited committees in New York and Los Angeles. They will spend Friday, January 10, through Sunday, January 12, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.

The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on January 16, 2014 with the awards ceremony set for March 2, 2014.