Today the Academy published the list with a
RECORD 71 countries that have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category. The post has become final.
Most amazing is that with only one exception, Bangladesh, all films have trailers or videos in the original language, many with English subtitles; so have an idea of what each film could be to better guess their possibilities beyond the favorites.
Was reading again
Rule Thirteen: Special Rules for the Foreign Language Film Award and the only date clearly stated is the deadline for the second print, which is due the same day the nominations will be announced, Thursday, January 10, 2013 at 5 p.m. PT. So I have to assume that they have to give at least 2 or 3 days before the deadline to have the print shipped and this gives me the estimate that Friday, January 4th the shortlist of nine (9) films should be announced. If is not that day then has to be on Monday, January 7th.
This is a long list with many, many great films. Enjoy!
Afghanistan: سنگ صبور
Syngue Sabour (The Patience Stone), Atiq Rahimi
Albania:
Pharmakon, Joni Shanaj
Algeria: !زبانا
Zabana!, Saïd Ould Khelifa
Argentina:
Infancia Clandestina (Clandestine Childhood), Benjamín Ávila
Armenia: Եթե բոլորը (
If Only Everyone), Nataliya Belyauskene
Australia:
Lore, Cate Shortland
Austria:
Amour (Love), Michael Haneke
Azerbaijan:
Buta, Ilgar Najaf
Bangladesh: ঘেটুপুত্র কমলা
Ghetuputra Komola (Pleasure Boy Kamola), Humayun Ahmed
Belgium:
À perdre la raison (Our Children), Joachim Lafosse
Bosnia and Herzegovina:
Djeca (Children of Sarajevo), Aida Begic
Brazil:
O Palhaço (The Clown), Selton Mello
Bulgaria: Кецове
Kecove (Sneakers), Ivan Vladimirov and Valeri Yordanov
Cambodia: ឃ្លាតទៅសែនឆ្ងាយ (
Lost Loves), Chhay Bora
Canada:
Rebelle (War Witch), Kim Nguyen
Chile:
No, Pablo Larraín
China: 搜索 (
Caught in the Web), Chen Kaige
Colombia:
El Cartel de los Sapos (The Snitch Cartel), Carlos Moreno
Croatia:
Ljudožder vegetarijanac (Vegetarian Cannibal), Branka Schmidta
Czech Republic:
Ve stínu (In The Shadow of the Horse), David Ondříček
Denmark:
En Kongelig Affære (A Royal Affair), Nikolaj Arcel
Dominican Republic:
Jaque Mate (Check-Mate), José María Cabral
Estonia:
Seenelkäik (Mushrooming), Toomas Hussar
Finland:
Puhdistus (Purge), Antti Jokinen
France:
Intouchables (The Intouchables), Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano
Georgia:
Keep Smiling, Rusudan Chkonia
Germany:
Barbara, Christian Petzold
Greece: Άδικος Κόσμος
Adikos kosmos (Unfair World), Filippos Tsitos
Greenland:
Inuk, Mike Magidson
Hong Kong: 奪命金
Duo Mingjin (aka Dyut Ming Gam) (Life Without Principle), Johnnie To
Hungary:
Csak a szél (Just the Wind), Benedek Fliegauf
Iceland:
Djúpið (The Deep), Baltasar Kormákur
India: बर्फी
Barfi!, Anurag Basu
Indonesia:
Sang Penari (The Dancer), Ifa Isfansyah
Israel: למלא את החלל
Lemale Et Ha'Chalal (Fill The Void), Rama Burshtein
Italy:
Cesare deve morire (Caesar Must Die), Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
Japan: かぞくのくに
Kazoku no kuni (Our Homeland), Yong-hi Yang
Kazakhstan: Жаужүрек мың бала
Zhau Zhurek Myn Bala (Myn Bala: Warriors of the Steppe), Akan Satayev
Kenya:
Nairobi Half Life, David Tosh Gitonga
Kyrgyzstan:
Pustoi Dom (The Empty Home), Nurbek Egen
Latvia:
Golfa straume zem ledus kalna (aka Golfstrim pod aysbergom)(Gulf Stream Under the Iceberg), Yevgeny Pashkevich
Lithuania:
Ramin, Audrius Stonys
Macedonia: Трето полувреме
Treto poluvreme (The Third Half), Darko Mitrevski
Malaysia:
Bunohan, Dain Iskandar Said
Mexico:
Después de Lucía (After Lucia), Michel Franco
Morocco: موت للبيع
Mort à vendre (Death for Sale), Faouzi Bensaïdi
Netherlands:
Kauwboy, Boudewijn Koole
Norway:
Kon-Tiki by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg
Palestine: لما شفتك
Lamma Shoftak (When I Saw You), Annemarie Jacir
Peru:
Las Malas Intenciones (The Bad Intentions), Rosario García-Montero
Philippines:
Bwakaw, Jun Robles Lana
Poland:
80 milionów (80 Millions), Waldemar Krzystek
Portugal:
Sangue do meu Sange (Blood of My Blood), João Canijo
Romania:
După dealuri (Beyond the Hills), Cristian Mungiu
Russia: Белый тигр
Belyy Tigr (White Tiger), Karen Shakhnazarov
Serbia: Кад сване дан
Kad svane dan (When Day Breaks), Gorana Paskaljevića
Singapore:
Already Famous, Michelle Chong
Slovakia:
Až do mesta Aš (Made in Ash), Iveta Grófová
Slovenia:
Izlet (A Trip), Nejc Gazvoda
South Africa:
Umfaan (Little One), Darrell Roodt
South Korea: 피에타
Pieta, Kim Ki-Duk
Spain:
Blancanieves, Pablo Berger
Sweden:
Hypnotisören (The Hypnotist), Lasse Hallström
Switzerland:
L'enfant d'en haut (Sister), Ursula Meier
Taiwan: 逆光飛翔 (
Touch of the Light), Chang Rong-ji (aka Chang Jung-chi)
Thailand: ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า
Fon Tok Kuen Fah (Headshot), Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Turkey:
Ateş'in Düştüğü Yer (Where the Fire Burns), İsmail Güneş
Ukraine: ТойХтоПройшовКрізьВогонь (
Firecrosser), Mykhailo Illienko
Uruguay:
La Demora (The Delay), Rodrigo Plá
Venezuela:
Piedra, Papel o Tijera (Rock, Paper, Scissors), Hernán Jabes
Vietnam:
Mùi cỏ cháy (The Scent of Burnt Grass), Nguyễn Hữu Mười
Watch trailers @
MOCMy Comments from Updates9/29
As of this moment ALL countries with large cinema industry have announced their submissions. Until next Monday, October 1st deadline maybe there could be announcements from smaller cinema industry countries.
This is the last update until AMPAS announces the official list with
accepted submissions and post becomes final. Usually list is published between one/two weeks after the deadline. So expect final list before October 15.
Think this year will do a brief analysis of all submitted and accepted films, but until then can share that this year there are many submitted films from the major three festivals and as of this moment, most come from the Berlinale, second place is Cannes and third is Venice. Top award winners at these three festivals: Golden Bear, Palme d'Or and Golden Lion were all submitted to Oscar this year.
Up to this moment have been able to identify nine (9) films by female directors, which I believe could be a record, but have to confirm it. My spontaneous impression is that there are quite a few films about or related to "old age" and also to "children" stories. There is one film with some lesbian interest and one with clear gay interest.
But most interesting is that list has many films that are must be seen for me, most come from festivals but there are a few that don't. My viewing queue has become larger but have a whole year to try to see films I'm interested in watching. Great!
9/18
Was hoping for Audiard, would not have mind Leos Carax, but France sending a mainstream movie?! Not pleased, as there were so many great movies. Still I know selection is a crowd-pleaser and maybe will charm older Academy members in the committee. Not good news for me. Sigh. Besides, don't be surprised if this film ALSO makes it to the Best Film category as "Beyond the Foreign Language Oscar race, US distributor Harvey Weinstein has also stated he would like to enter Intouchables for Best Picture Oscar." We all know what happens when Weinstein is behind a film. Double Sigh.
9/16
Pulled post up as for the next two weeks we will learn most if not all the submissions. The "experiment", or the map at bottom of post, is getting many views since yesterday. I'm still learning how to add more info to each country, so expect that each will have more info soon. Thanks for visiting.
9/13
Category getting very complicated for me as has more GREAT (well, my favorite) directors. Today Kim Ki-duk joined Haneke and Mungiu. Now let see if list grows to include Audiard and Reygadas... that could make this year competition very interesting, just imagine a festival with these directors competing for one top award. Not even Cannes can do it, so maybe Oscar.
9/9
Pulled up post. Was thinking if wouldn't be interesting if this year the category will have Haneke, Mungiu plus Jacques Audiard all competing for one award? Also think that Audiard was robbed in the same year as Haneke. If France sends Rust & Bone then my thinking will be real, but there is another film that everyone is betting will be this year France Oscar entry. Soon we will see what happens.
9/6
List is growing fast and I'm pulling post up. Most are commenting that the winner is already in this list. Yes, Amour has ALL the right credentials to appeal Academy foreign-language committee members, that tend to be NOT young. I do not mind at all that Michael Haneke gets an Oscar as he should have one by now (Remember Caché controversy? and/or The White Ribbon?).
Then today Romania announced their submission and Cristian Mungiu joined the competition, he ALSO should have one by now (remember the controversy that changed the rules in the category?). Mungiu was robbed then and maybe now they will give him the Oscar for both films, why not?
But truth is that nothing is predictable in this category thanks to the voting process.
9/1
As September begins is time to do the first update to bring the post up and get it ready to go very busy as is during September when most countries publish their official announcements. As many like to say and I modify for this category, the "World Race to Oscar" has started and one of the most iconic lists of great world films is in process to be final by early October when the Academy publishes the official list. Five films have been already announced and estimate that at least 55 more will be added soon. Cheers!
P.S. Thank You for the email with Poland tip! Much appreciated. The tally is up to six films.
8/15
Today decided to do some predictions for this category and got the pleasant surprise that one country already has announced their submission which makes today a good day to start this traditional post that will have multiple updates until the Academy announces the official list.
An experiment
Have to thank each and everyone that saw the experiment (map) and I'm pleased to announce that will do it next year as map had twice the visits of this post.
View 85th Academy Awards Foreign Language Film Submissions in a larger map
The article left me thinking and my thinking evolved into something related but different. Started to wonder why the American Academy hasn't fully realized that the list generated by the country submissions to Oscar foreign film category is the ONLY list in the world that has what we can sometimes call the "best of the best" in world cinema. There is no other cinema related source or event that generates a similar list. You can say that big and famous festivals have films from all over the world; but none, not even Cannes, has 70 plus films from almost all the countries with an active cinema industry. 
Then, assuming that the Academy knows, why they haven't made category more relevant within the awards show? The last becomes more interesting if we consider that the Oscar show is about the ONLY American television show that is broadcast live to huge world audiences. This issue has always puzzled me as know there is a huge opportunity in promoting the category to world audiences. Still also know that what show producers really care is about the American show ratings, so don't foresee any changes on how the category is promoted within the show. Which only makes me wish there was an organization that could capitalize this list into a true World Cinema event. Sigh.
Not all films have marketing and/or advertising budgets to promote them to local audiences, much less to a world audience, and is precisely those that don't have who get their "15 minutes of fame" in local press and now, in world social media. If before selecting a film to this category gave film an opportunity to be known that exists, now perhaps becomes the most effective free source to gather audiences for a film on worldwide basis. But not only the film benefits as also directly or indirectly the local movie industry gets promoted. I believe that some countries have already figured out all this, so it is no surprise for me that the category got a record 71 films submitted, even when last year winner country called for a boycott this year.
For so many reasons maybe list has never been the "best of the best" but surely this year huge list gives us a great reason to continue loving World Cinema. Then wouldn't be just nice if a VOD service will give us the opportunity to be able to watch ALL films in the list? Alright if not all, maybe those from smaller cinema industry countries? There you have a great business opportunity that surely will please many, especially me.
