The Academy has announced the nine films that will advance for consideration for the Best Foreign Language category at the 2015 Oscars and among them is what I believe to be the #1 favorite, Pawel Pawlikowski‘s Ida out of Poland. I’m happy to see Damian Szifron‘s hilarious Wild Tales also among the contenders and sad to see Xavier Dolan‘s Mommy didn’t make the cut.
Of the lot, and outside of the films I’ve already mentioned, I’ve only also seen Force Majeure and Leviathan. Some may be surprised the Dardennes’ Two Days, One Night out of Belgium missing the cut considering it’s been nominated several times elsewhere, not only for Foreign Language, but also star Marion Cotillard.
Zaza Urushadze‘s Tangerines out of Estonia was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the same category while Abderrahmane Sissako‘s Timbuktu was a hit at Cannes taking the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and François Chalais Award while George Ovashvili‘s Corn Island has won several awards over the course of the year.
Check out the list of nine contenders that remain out of the 83 that were eligible below.
- Argentina, Wild Tales (dir. Damian Szifron)
- Estonia, Tangerines (dir. Zaza Urushadze)
- Georgia, Corn Island (dir. George Ovashvili)
- Mauritania, Timbuktu (dir. Abderrahmane Sissako)
- Netherlands, Accused (dir. Paula van der Oest)
- Poland, Ida (dir. Pawel Pawlikowski)
- Russia, Leviathan (dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev)
- Sweden, Force Majeure (dir. Ruben Ostlund)
- Venezuela, The Liberator (dir. Alberto Arvelo)
Foreign Language Film nominations for 2014 are being determined in two phases.
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 15. 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 category’s five nominees by specially invited committees in New York, Los Angeles and, for the first time, London. They will spend Friday, January 9, through Sunday, January 11, viewing three films each day and then casting their ballots.
The 87th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 15, 2015, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
The Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
