The short list for the Foreign Language Oscar race has been announced. There are no incredibly shocking omissions, at least not at first glance. Austria’s Amour, France’s The Intouchables, and Denmark’s A Royal Affair have led the pack for most of the season, and all three remain alive in the race. The other two I have been predicting, Chile’s No and Norway’s Kon-Tiki (distributed by The Weinstein Company) are also still in the running, as is Romania’s Beyond the Hills. See the list of nine after the jump…
Austria, Amour, Michael Haneke, director;
Canada, War Witch, Kim Nguyen, director;
Chile, No, Pablo Larraín, director;
Denmark, A Royal Affair, Nikolaj Arcel, director;
France, The Intouchables, Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors;
Iceland, The Deep, Baltasar Kormákur, director;
Norway, Kon-Tiki, Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors;
Romania, Beyond the Hills, Cristian Mungiu, director;
Switzerland, Sister, Ursula Meier, director
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12 Comments













No Asian finalists? You think the’d at least try to be fully inclusive…
Kel D(Quote) (Reply)
Ridiculous. Amour, War Witch, Sister aren’t worthy. Paradise: Love, Pieta, Our Children should’ve gone instead.
Rohit Ramachandran(Quote) (Reply)
Paradise: Love wasn’t in competition. Austria choose “Amour”
Roger(Quote) (Reply)
Shame for no Bwakaw, Pieta, or Caesar Must Die. The final lineup will likely be Amour, The Intouchables, A Royal Affair, Beyond the Hills, and No.
UBourgeois(Quote) (Reply)
Bwakaw is the one that surprises me, but just a little.
Mark Johnson(Quote) (Reply)
No Blancanueves, White Tiger, Cannibal Vegetarian, Caesar Must Die, or Pharmakon. Shame.
JamDenTel(Quote) (Reply)
All five I predicted made the cut! After self-congratulatories are completed, I will say that something in the back of my mind tells me Amour is prime for an upset. Not that I find it be a bad film, it is one of the year’s best in my opinion, but this is a pretty strong field. We shall see very soon. Recently the frontrunner or film which competes in other categories, loses out. Pan’s Labyrinth and Amelie the first two that come to mind. Love this category. Curious how it shakes out…
Michael Ward(Quote) (Reply)
Bummer about Bwakaw…
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)
No love for Headhunters or Elena? This makes me sad.
George(Quote) (Reply)
Elena is last year.
Rohit Ramachandran(Quote) (Reply)
Headhunters can’t be nominated since Norways entry was Kon-Tiki.
John(Quote) (Reply)
And the Oscar goes to… Amour
Runner up:
The Intouchables
Roberto Hevia(Quote) (Reply)