Waltz, The Class, Baader Meinhof make nine-film Oscar shortlist

Matteo Garrone's Sicilian crime epic Gomorrah failed to make the cut as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced its shortlist of foreign language Oscar contenders today [January 13].

The nine films chosen from the original list of 65 qualifying submissions that will advance to the next round of voting are: Gotz Spielmann's Revanche from Austria; Benoit Pilon's The Necessities Of Life from Canada; Laurent Cantet's The Class from France; Uli Edel's The Baader Meinhof Complex from Germany; Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir from Israel; Yojiro Takita's Departures from Japan; Roberto Sneider's Tear This Heart Out from Mexico; Jan Troell's Everlasting Moments from Sweden; and Nuri Bilge Ceylan's 3 Monkeys from Turkey.

Foreign Language nominees are being determined in two phases this year. The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 65 eligible films between mid-October and January 10. That group's top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy's foreign language film award executive committee, constitute the shortlist.

The shortlist will be narrowed down to five nominees by specially selected committees in New York and Los Angeles. The committee members will spend this Friday, Saturday and Sunday viewing three of the films each day.

The nominations will be announced on January 22 and the 81st Academy Awards will take place in Hollywood on February 22.

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