Much like Christmas, rumblings over the Oscars seem to be starting earlier every year. Entertainment Weekly reports that the submissions are officially in for the Best Foreign Language Film category. I don’t really care much about the Oscars, and this particular award illustrates a lot of the reasons I have for that. Nothing about the category’s rules make much sense. Why must a film be submitted for consideration by a country, and why only one film per country? Why is it that the country, and not any of the filmmakers involved, is the recipient of the statuette? It’s just all so silly.
Anyway, here’s the lineup. There are 71 films from around the world, including the first-ever submission from Kenya (good for them, I guess). I’ve only seen Amour, which is fantastic, and the only other one that I’ve heard of is The Intouchables. If you’re a foreign film junkie, here’s some things to add to your watch list, at least. These contenders will be narrowed down to a shortlist of around 15 by the end of the year, and the final five nominees will be announced along with the rest on January 10th, 2013. The Academy Awards ceremony will be held on February 24th.
Afghanistan: The Patience Stone, Atiq Rahimi, director
Albania: Pharmakon, Joni Shanaj, director
Algeria: Zabana!, Said Ould Khelifa, director
Argentina: Clandestine Childhood, Benjamín Ávila, director
Armenia: If Only Everyone, Natalia Belyauskene, director
Australia: Lore, Cate Shortland, director
Austria: Amour, Michael Haneke, director
Azerbaijan: Buta, Ilgar Najaf, director
Bangladesh: Pleasure Boy Komola, Humayun Ahmed, director
Belgium: Our Children, Joachim Lafosse, director
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Children of Sarajevo, Aida Begic, director
Brazil: The Clown, Selton Mello, director
Bulgaria: Sneakers, Valeri Yordanov and Ivan Vladimirov, directors
Cambodia: Lost Loves, Chhay Bora, director
Canada: War Witch, Kim Nguyen, director
Chile: No, Pablo Larraín, director
China: Caught in the Web, Chen Kaige, director
Colombia: The Snitch Cartel, Carlos Moreno, director
Croatia: Vegetarian Cannibal, Branko Schmidt, director
Czech Republic: In the Shadow, David Ondrícek, director
Denmark: A Royal Affair, Nikolaj Arcel, director
Dominican Republic: Jaque Mate, José María Cabral, director
Estonia: Mushrooming, Toomas Hussar, director
Finland: Purge, Antti J. Jokinen, director
France: The Intouchables, Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors
Georgia: Keep Smiling, Rusudan Chkonia, director
Germany: Barbara, Christian Petzold, director
Greece: Unfair World, Filippos Tsitos, director
Greenland: Inuk, Mike Magidson, director
Hong Kong: Life without Principle, Johnnie To, director
Hungary: Just the Wind, Bence Fliegauf, director
Iceland: The Deep, Baltasar Kormákur, director
India: Barfi! Anurag Basu, director
Indonesia: The Dancer, Ifa Isfansyah, director
Israel: Fill the Void, Rama Burshtein, director
Italy: Caesar Must Die, Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani, directors
Japan: Our Homeland, Yang Yonghi, director
Kazakhstan: Myn Bala: Warriors of the Steppe, Akan Satayev, director
Kenya: Nairobi Half Life, David ‘Tosh’ Gitonga, director
Kyrgyzstan: The Empty Home, Nurbek Egen, director
Latvia: Gulf Stream under the Iceberg, Yevgeny Pashkevich, director
Lithuania: Ramin, Audrius Stonys, director
Macedonia: The Third Half, Darko Mitrevski, director
Malaysia: Bunohan, Dain Iskandar Said, director
Mexico: After Lucia, Michel Franco, director
Morocco: Death for Sale, Faouzi Bensaïdi, director
Netherlands: Kauwboy, Boudewijn Koole, director
Norway: Kon-Tiki, Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors
Palestine: When I Saw You, Annemarie Jacir, director
Peru: The Bad Intentions, Rosario García-Montero, director
Philippines: Bwakaw, Jun Robles Lana, director
Poland: 80 Million, Waldemar Krzystek, director
Portugal: Blood of My Blood, João Canijo, director
Romania: Beyond the Hills, Cristian Mungiu, director
Russia: White Tiger, Karen Shakhnazarov, director
Serbia: When Day Breaks, Goran Paskaljevic, director
Singapore: Already Famous, Michelle Chong, director
Slovak Republic: Made in Ash, Iveta Grófová, director
Slovenia: A Trip, Nejc Gazvoda, director
South Africa: Little One, Darrell James Roodt, director
South Korea: Pieta, Kim Ki-duk, director
Spain: Blancanieves, Pablo Berger, director
Sweden: The Hypnotist, Lasse Hallström, director
Switzerland: Sister, Ursula Meier, director
Taiwan: Touch of the Light, Chang Jung-Chi, director
Thailand: Headshot, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, director
Turkey: Where the Fire Burns, Ismail Gunes, director
Ukraine: The Firecrosser, Mykhailo Illienko, director
Uruguay: The Delay, Rodrigo Plá, director
Venezuela: Rock, Paper, Scissors, Hernán Jabes, director
Vietnam: The Scent of Burning Grass, Nguyen Huu Muoi, director
