The massive number of entries have now been winnowed down to 9. Of note, there are 7 titles ont his list from Europe, one from the Middle East and one from South America. Diversity hasn’t always been the Academy’s strong suit. The films I thought were most likely to make the final draft included Brazil’s The Second Mother, Taiwan’s The Assassin, Canada’s Felix and Meira, Austria’s Goodnight Mommy, Sweden’s A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (this was kind of a longshot simply because it’s so unusual), Lithuania’s The Summer of Sangaile and Greece’s Xenia. Others might suggest other films they are surprised to see absent.

From this list, I think Son of Saul and Labyrinth of Lies, both dealing with the Holocaust in one way or another, seem like pretty solid contenders, though Labyrinth hasn’t been performing well in the precursors. The Brand New Testament and The Fencer have been popping up more frequently and I give the former an edge if only one make sit. Mustang has been performing quite well with the year-end awards, so it’s a definite contender as well.

9 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS ADVANCE IN OSCAR® RACE

LOS ANGELES, CA – Nine features will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 88th Academy Awards®. Eighty films had originally been considered in the category.

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

Belgium, “The Brand New Testament,” Jaco Van Dormael, director;
Colombia, “Embrace of the Serpent,” Ciro Guerra, director;
Denmark, “A War,” Tobias Lindholm, director;
Finland, “The Fencer,” Klaus Härö, director;
France, “Mustang,” Deniz Gamze Ergüven, director;
Germany, “Labyrinth of Lies,” Giulio Ricciarelli, director;
Hungary, “Son of Saul,” László Nemes, director;
Ireland, “Viva,” Paddy Breathnach, director;
Jordan, “Theeb,” Naji Abu Nowar, director.

Foreign Language Film nominations for 2015 are being determined in two phases.

The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based Academy members, screened the original submissions in the category between mid-October and December 14. The group’s top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee, constitute the shortlist.