Nine films advance in Oscars foreign language film race
LOS ANGELES: Nine movies have made the cut to compete for a nomination for the best foreign-language fi lm Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Thursday.
The shortlist includes Maren Ade’s “Toni Erdmann,” a German comedy about a troubled father- daughter relationship, which added a Golden Globe nomination in the foreignlanguage category on Monday after sweeping the board at the weekend’s European fi lm awards.
Other frontrunners include “The Salesman,” a drama about violence and its consequences by Iranian Asghar Farhadi, whose 2011 movie “A Separation” won the foreign-language Oscar, and Xavier Dolan’s Canadian drama “It’s Only the End of the World,” which bagged the Cannes Grand Prix.
Among the snubs were Paul Verhoeven’s drama “Elle,” a French rape revenge comedy, and “Neruda,” Pablo Larrain’s biopic about the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda — although the director can expect his Englishlanguage fi lm “Jackie” to pick up nominations for major honours.
Foreign language fi lms are whittled down from 85 entries by several hundred Los Angelesbased Academy members.
The Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee bumps up their six choices to nine to make up the shortlist.
Nominations for the 89th Annual Academy Awards are expected to be announced on Jan 24, and the ceremony itself set for Feb 26 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The fi lms are: “Tanna” (Australia) “It’s Only the End of the World” (Canada) “Land of Mine” ( Denmark) “Toni Erdmann” (Germany) “The Salesman” ( Iran) “The King’s Choice” ( Norway) “Paradise” ( Russia) “A Man Called Ove” (Sweden) “My Life as a Zucchini” (Switzerland)
— AFP