Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio from Italy and Baltasar Kormakur's The Sea (Hafid) from Iceland have brought the current number of national submissions for the best foreign language Oscar to 40.

Pinocchio, which has grossed a phenomenal $24.3m in just five weeks on release in Italy, is the most expensive film ever to come out of the country, with a budget of Euros 40m.

Meanwhile, The Sea was chosen as Iceland's official candidate for the Academy Awards' best foreign language Oscar at the annual Icelandic Film & TV-Awards, where Baltasar Kormakur's audience favourite scooped up all the major awards with eight EDDAs. (see separate story).



National submissions for Best Foreign Language Oscar (as of Nov 12)

Click on the title to read the Screen International review

Argentina Kamchatka - Marcelo Pineyro
Austria Gebirtig (Gebuertig).- Lukas Stepanik and Robert Schindel
Bangladesh The Clay Bird (Matir Moina) - Tareque Masud
Belgium The Son (Le Fils) - Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
Brazil City Of God (Cidade De Deus) - Fernando Meirelles
Canada Un Crabe Dans La Tete - Andre Turpin
Chile Ogu Y Mampato En Rapa Nui - Alejandro Rojas
China Hero - Zhang Yimou
Colombia The Invisible Children (Los Ninos Invisible) - Lisandro Duque
Croatia Nice Dead Girls (Fine Mrtve Djevojke) - Dalibor Matanic
Czech Republic Wild Bees (Divoke Vcley) - Bohdan Slama
Denmark Open Hearts (Elsker Dig For Evigt)- Susanne Bier
Finland The Man Without A Past - Aki Kaurismaki
France 8 Women (8 Femmes) - Francois Ozon
Germany Nowhere In Africa (Nirgendwo In Afrika) - Caroline Link
Hong Kong The Touch- Peter Pau
Hungary Hukkle - Gyorgy Palfi
Iceland The Sea (Hafid) - Baltasar Kormakur
India Devdas - Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Iran I'm Taraneh, 15 (Man, Taraneh, Panzdah Sal Daram) - Rassul Sadr-Ameli
Israel Broken Wings - Nir Bergman
Italy Pinocchio - Roberto Benigni
Mexico The Crime Of Father Amaro (El Crimen De Padre Amaro) - Carlos Carrera
Netherlands Zus & Zo - Paula van der Oest
Norway Hold My Heart (Tyven, Tyven) - Trygve Allister Diesen
Phillipines Small Voices (Mga Munting Tinig) - Gil Portes
Poland Edi - Piotr Trzaskalski
Portugal O Delfim - Fernando Lopes
Romania Philanthropy (Filantropica) - Nae Caranfil
Russia House Of Fools (Dom Durakov) - Andrei Konchalovsky
Slovenia Headnoise - Andrej Kosak
South Korea Oasis - Lee Chang-dong
Spain Mondays In The Sun (Los Lunes Al Sol) - Fernando Leon
Sweden Lilja 4-ever - Lukas Moodysson
Taiwan The Best Of Times - Chang Tso-Chi
Thailand Mon-rak Transistor - Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Turkey Nine (Dokuz) - Salkim Hanim
United Kingdom The Warrior - Asif Kapadia
Uruguay Heart Of Fire (Coradon De Fuego) Diego Arsuaga
Yugoslavia - Labyrinth - Miroslav Lekic