We’ve been giving you many a list recently regarding which films are still in the running for which Academy Awards. Those still contending for best animated film, best visual effects, best documentary, best original song, and best make-up have all been announced, but here is one of my favourite categories; Best Foreign Film. The reason I love this category is that every year for well over a decade I have been introduced to gems I’ve never even heard of. It often opens doors to new countries, cultures, and ideas. From 71 films originally considered, the Academy has chipped their way down to 9.
- AMOUR – Michael Haneke – Austria
- SISTER – Ursula Meier – Switzerland
- WAR WITCH – Kim Nguyen – Canada
- BEYOND THE HILLS – Cristian Mungiu – Romania
- NO – Pablo Larrain – Chile
- KON-TIKI – Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg – Norway
- A ROYAL AFFAIR – Nikolaj Arcel – Denmark
- THE DEEP – Baltasar Kormákur – Iceland
- THE INTOUCHABLES – Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano – France
There are some fantastic films on that list and this will be a tough one to call. Haneke is always a good bet, but my love of Romanian films has me leaning towards BEYOND THE HILLS. Ones I still have to check out are WAR WITCH, NO (see the trailer here), KON-TIKI, SISTER and THE DEEP. Hopefully even this shortlist will get these films some more attention.
The full list of final nominations will be announced on 10th January with the ceremony hosted by Seth MacFarlane on 24th February.
Source: Coming Soon
