Nine foreign-language feature films will advance to the next round of voting for the 87th Academy Awards, after 83 films were originally considered in the category.
Some notable works failed to make the cut, reflecting the fact that this is a great year for foreign-language films.
Not competing for Oscar this year are Palme d’Or winner “Winter Sleep,” from Turkey’s Nuri Bilge Ceylan, which also made many critics’ 10 best lists, and critically-acclaimed “Two Days, One Night” from Belgium’s Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne.
Canada’s Xavier Dolan will apparently have to modify his stated goal of winning an Oscar by age 25, as his Cannes jury prizewinner “Mommy” was also left off the list.
Among other missing titles are Ethiopia’s “Difret,” Hungary’s “White God,” Israel’s “Gett, the Trial of Viviane Amsalem” and “Simshar,” the first-ever homegrown film from Malta.
The shortlist will be narrowed down to the category’s five nominees by invited committees in New York, Los Angeles and London. Five contenders will be announced, along with all other Oscar nominees, on January 15.
The shortlisted films are:
“Wild Tales” (Argentina)
“Tangerines” (Estonia)
“Corn Island” (Georgia)
“Timbuktu” (Mauritania)
“Accused” (Netherlands)
“Ida” (Poland)
“Leviathan” (Russia)
“Force Majeure” (Sweden)
“The Liberator” (Venezuela)