Brow Beat

Nine Films Advance in Oscars Foreign-Language Film Race

Toni Erdmann’s Sandra Hüller is feeling pretty good about it.

Sony Pictures Classics

And then there were nine movies eligible for the Oscar for best foreign-language film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the shortlist from which the eventual five nominees—and, of course, the winner—will be drawn. According to Variety, two-thirds of the shortlisted movies were chosen from a record 85 candidates by the Academy’s Phase I committee, with three more selected by AMPAS’ Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee.

Films advancing to the next round include Germany’s Toni Erdmann, directed by Maren Ade, already the winner of several polls and critics awards, Iran’s The Salesman, directed by Asghar Farhadi, and Canada’s French-language It’s the End of the World, directed by Xavier Dolan, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in May despite receiving largely hostile reviews.

More noteworthy in some respects are the movies that didn’t advance, including France’s Elle, directed by Paul Verhoeven, Spain’s Julieta, directed by Pedro Almodóvar, Chile’s Neruda, directed by Pablo Larraín, and Italy’s Fire at Sea, directed by Gianfranco Rosi, which would have become the first documentary to be nominated in the category. Given that few outside the Academy’s selection committee have seen all eligible 85 movies, it’s impossible to definitively second-guess their choices, but they certainly left some great and worthy movies by the wayside.

Here’s the complete shortlist.

It’s Only the End of the World (Canada)

The King’s Choice (Norway)

Land of Mine (Denmark)

A Man Called Ove (Sweden)

My Life as a Zucchini (Switzerland)

Paradise (Russia*)

The Salesman (Iran)

Tanna (Australia)

Toni Erdmann (Germany)

*Correction, Dec. 19, 2016: This piece originally misidentified Paradise as a film from Norway. It is the Russian submission for the Oscar.