Here Are The 9 Semi-Finalists For Best Foreign Language Film!

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Speaking of Oscar predictions and betting pools, here’s the 9 semi-finalists for Best Foreign Language Film! Obviously, I don’t know as much about these films as I do some of the other Oscar contenders. I am a bit surprised to see that Elle did not make the cut, despite starring certain Oscar nominee Isabelle Huppert.

Here are the 9:

Australia, “Tanna,” Bentley Dean, Martin Butler, directors;
Canada, “It’s Only the End of the World,” Xavier Dolan, director;
Denmark, “Land of Mine,” Martin Zandvliet, director;
Germany, “Toni Erdmann,” Maren Ade, director;
Iran, “The Salesman,” Asghar Farhadi, director;
Norway, “The King’s Choice,” Erik Poppe, director;
Russia, “Paradise,” Andrei Konchalovsky, director;
Sweden, “A Man Called Ove,” Hannes Holm, director;
Switzerland, “My Life as a Zucchini,” Claude Barras, director.

Here Are The 9 Semi-Finalists For The Best Foreign Language Film Oscar!

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Awards season continues! Over 200 films were submitted for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar and yesterday, the Academy announced the 9 semi-finalists. Goodbye Mommy did not make the cut. The Second Mother did not make the cut. The Assassin did not make the cut, which is a shame because I caught the final five minutes of it when I went to see Suffragette yesterday and it looked pretty damn good. A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Contemplating Existence did not make the cut, which sucks because I love that title.

Here’s what did make the cut:

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.

Best Foreign Language Film is notorious for being a difficult category to predict. Right now, assuming it’s one of the five finalists, Son of Saul is considered to be the front runner. Some people even thought it would receive a nomination for best picture of the year but so far, it hasn’t really been much of a factor in the precursor awards.

Here Are The 9 Finalists For The Best Foreign Language Film Oscar!

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here’s one final bit of late Oscar news. 83 countries submitted films to be considered for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Earlier last week, the Academy announced the 9 semi-finalists!

To the shock of many, Two Days One Night was not a semi-finalist! That’s surprising, considering that Marion Cotillard’s performance has been receiving a lot of Oscar season attention. If anything, the snubbing of Two Days One Night would indicate that Jennifer Aniston probably had a better chance of being the fifth Best Actress nominee than Cotillard.

The Canadian film Mommy was also not on the list of semi-finalists, which surprised many. However, this does mean that Sasha Stone will now have something else to complain about over on Awards Daily.

And finally, the Palme d’Or winner Winter’s Sleep did not make the top 9 either.

What did make the top 9?

Check them out below!

Argentina, “Wild Tales,” Damián Szifrón, director;

Estonia, “Tangerines,” Zaza Urushadze, director;

Georgia, “Corn Island,” George Ovashvili, director;

Mauritania, “Timbuktu,” Abderrahmane Sissako, director;

Netherlands, “Accused,” Paula van der Oest, director;

Poland, “Ida,” Paweł Pawlikowski, director;

Russia, “Leviathan,” Andrey Zvyagintsev, director;

Sweden, “Force Majeure,” Ruben Östlund, director;

Venezuela, “The Liberator,” Alberto Arvelo, director.