Nine films short-listed for Foreign Language Oscar

Nine features will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 86th Academy Awards. Seventy-six films had originally been considered in the 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

Foreign Language Film nominations for 2013 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 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 live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The presentation, produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.