Academy announces nine foreign-language films on Oscar shortlist

Michael Haneke’s Amour and the tender French comedy, The Intouchables, were among nine films promoted to the Academy Awards shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film category. Seventy-one films entries had been considered, and the list will further be culled down to five nominees after specially invited committees in New York and Los Angeles screen them during the first weekend in January.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

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

The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, Jan. 10.

Read more:

Chile’s Oscar foreign film entry ‘No’ director on politics, freedom, and working with Gael Garcia Bernal

Romania’s Oscar entry ‘Beyond the Hills’ director on following up ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’

Iceland’s Oscar entry ‘The Deep’ director on filming shipwreck, working with Mark Wahlberg

Denmark’s Oscar foreign film entry ‘A Royal Affair’ director Nikolaj Arcel, star Mads Mikkelsen