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.