Academy’s 76 Foreign Language Entries Set New Record

Iran’s “The Past,” Denmark’s “The Hunt,” Italy’s “The Great Beauty” and Saudi Arabia’s “Wadjda” are among the noteworthy films on the Academy list; Agnieszka Holland’s “Burning Bush” was disqualified

The Oscar competition for Best Foreign Language Film will be more crowded than ever this year, with a record 76 countries in the running for the prize.

The previous record was set last year, when 71 films were eligible.

According to the list of eligible films released on Monday by the Academy, Moldova and Saudi Arabia submitted films for the first time, and Montenegro did so for the first time as an independent country. Iran ended a one-year boycott of the Oscars to enter Asghar Farhadi’s “The Past” (photo above).

But a couple of films were disqualified by the Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, which reviews all submissions to make sure they meet AMPAS requirements. The most notable rejection was director Agnieszka Holland’s “Burning Bush,” which was submitted by the Czech Republic but disallowed because it was made for and premiered on HBO Europe.

The Czech Republic was allowed to submit a replacement film, “The Don Juans.”

Contrary to a premature report published on Thursday by another website, North Korea does not have a film in the running. According to an individual with knowledge of the process, an attempt was made to submit a North Korean film, but it was not accepted because it was not made by an approved body.

TheWrap has a full list of the eligible films, with descriptions and links to trailers.

Also read: Oscar’s 2013 Foreign Language Entries: The Complete List

“The Past” has to to considered one of the early favorites in the race, along with Belgium’s “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” Brazil’s “Neighboring Sounds,” Canada’s “Gabrielle,” Chile’s “Gloria,” Denmark’s “The Hunt,” Hong Kong’s “The Grandmaster,” Israel’s “Bethlehem,” Italy’s “The Great Beauty,” Palestine’s “Omar,” Poland’s “Walesa,” Saudi Arabia’s “Wadjda” and Singapore’s “Ilo Ilo.”

Academy members who volunteer to vote in the category will be divided into groups, and will screen all the contenders over the next three months at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Their scores will be tabulated to come up with the top six films, and an executive committee will add three more entries to make up the nine-film shortlist.

Screenings begin on Oct. 11 and run though Dec. 16, and the record number of films means that members of the general committee will have to do a large amount of work in that time. “We had a number in the high 60s two years ago, and we had 71 last year, and we were able to make it,” committee chair Mark Johnson told theWrap. “Thank God we can subdivide the committee.”

The general committee is divided into three color-coded groups, each of which will view a third of the qualifying films. Members must see 65 percent of the films in their group for their votes to count.

Johnson himself said that he sees about two-thirds of the entries each year.

Also read: Mark Johnson Returns as Oscar Foreign Language Chair as Race Gets Underway (Exclusive)

The list:

Afghanistan, “Wajma – An Afghan Love Story,” Barmak Akram, director;
Albania, “Agon,” Robert Budina, director;
Argentina, “The German Doctor,” Lucía Puenzo, director;
Australia, “The Rocket,” Kim Mordaunt, director;
Austria, “The Wall,” Julian Pölsler, director;
Azerbaijan, “Steppe Man,” Shamil Aliyev, director;
Bangladesh, “Television,” Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director;
Belgium, “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” Felix van Groeningen, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker,” Danis Tanovic, director;
Brazil, “Neighboring Sounds,” Kleber Mendonça Filho, director;
Bulgaria, “The Color of the Chameleon,” Emil Hristov, director;
Cambodia, “The Missing Picture,” Rithy Panh, director;
Canada, “Gabrielle,” Louise Archambault, director;
Chad, “GriGris,” Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, director;
Chile, “Gloria,” Sebastián Lelio, director;
China, “Back to 1942,” Feng Xiaogang, director;
Colombia, “La Playa DC,” Juan Andrés Arango, director;
Croatia, “Halima’s Path,” Arsen Anton Ostojic, director;
Czech Republic, “The Don Juans,” Jiri Menzel, director;
Denmark, “The Hunt,” Thomas Vinterberg, director;
Dominican Republic, “Quien Manda?” Ronni Castillo, director;
Ecuador, “The Porcelain Horse,” Javier Andrade, director;
Egypt, “Winter of Discontent,” Ibrahim El Batout, director;
Estonia, “Free Range,” Veiko Ounpuu, director;
Finland, “Disciple,” Ulrika Bengts, director;
France, “Renoir,” Gilles Bourdos, director;
Georgia, “In Bloom,” Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross, directors;
Germany, “Two Lives,” Georg Maas, director;
Greece, “Boy Eating the Bird’s Food,” Ektoras Lygizos, director;
Hong Kong, “The Grandmaster,” Wong Kar-wai, director;
Hungary, “The Notebook,” Janos Szasz, director;
Iceland, “Of Horses and Men,” Benedikt Erlingsson, director;
India, “The Good Road,” Gyan Correa, director;
Indonesia, “Sang Kiai,” Rako Prijanto, director;
Iran, “The Past,” Asghar Farhadi, director;
Israel, “Bethlehem,” Yuval Adler, director;
Italy, “The Great Beauty,” Paolo Sorrentino, director;
Japan, “The Great Passage,” Ishii Yuya, director;
Kazakhstan, “Shal,” Yermek Tursunov, director;
Latvia, “Mother, I Love You,” Janis Nords, director;
Lebanon, “Blind Intersections,” Lara Saba, director;
Lithuania, “Conversations on Serious Topics,” Giedre Beinoriute, director;
Luxembourg, “Blind Spot,” Christophe Wagner, director;
Mexico, “Heli,” Amat Escalante, director;
Moldova, “All God’s Children,” Adrian Popovici, director;
Montenegro, “Ace of Spades – Bad Destiny,” Drasko Djurovic, director;
Morocco, “Horses of God,” Nabil Ayouch, director;
Nepal, “Soongava: Dance of the Orchids,” Subarna Thapa, director;
Netherlands, “Borgman,” Alex van Warmerdam, director;
New Zealand, “White Lies,” Dana Rotberg, director;
Norway, “I Am Yours,” Iram Haq, director;
Pakistan, “Zinda Bhaag,” Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi, directors;
Palestine, “Omar,” Hany Abu-Assad, director;
Peru, “The Cleaner,” Adrian Saba, director;
Philippines, “Transit,” Hannah Espia, director;
Poland, “Walesa. Man of Hope,” Andrzej Wajda, director;
Portugal, “Lines of Wellington,” Valeria Sarmiento, director;
Romania, “Child’s Pose,” Calin Peter Netzer, director;
Russia, “Stalingrad,” Fedor Bondarchuk, director;
Saudi Arabia, “Wadjda,” Haifaa Al Mansour, director;
Serbia, “Circles,” Srdan Golubovic, director;
Singapore, “Ilo Ilo,” Anthony Chen, director;
Slovak Republic, “My Dog Killer,” Mira Fornay, director;
Slovenia, “Class Enemy,” Rok Bicek, director;
South Africa, “Four Corners,” Ian Gabriel, director;
South Korea, “Juvenile Offender,” Kang Yi-kwan, director;
Spain, “15 Years Plus a Day,” Gracia Querejeta, director;
Sweden, “Eat Sleep Die,” Gabriela Pichler, director;
Switzerland, “More than Honey,” Markus Imhoof, director;
Taiwan, “Soul,” Chung Mong-Hong, director;
Thailand, “Countdown,” Nattawut Poonpiriya, director;
Turkey, “The Butterfly’s Dream,” Yilmaz Erdogan, director;
Ukraine, “Paradjanov,” Serge Avedikian and Olena Fetisova, directors;
United Kingdom, “Metro Manila,” Sean Ellis, director;
Uruguay, “Anina,” Alfredo Soderguit, director;
Venezuela, “Breach in the Silence,” Luis Alejandro Rodríguez and Andrés Eduardo Rodríguez, directors.

 

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