Francois Ozon's 8 Femmes has been selected as France's submission for the best foreign-language film award at the Oscars.

The nomination seems well-deserved as the critically-acclaimed film has not only performed strongly in France, where it sold 3.8 million tickets, but has also proved a hot-seller on the international market.

Ozon has a growing following outside of France. His first film, the highly subversive Sitcom, did not go un-noticed, and his previous title, the sombre and haunting Under The Sand was an international success.

8 Femmes - an all-female camp whodunnit featuring some of France's most glamorous actresses including Catherine Deneuve, Emmanuelle Beart and Fanny Ardant - departs from all of Ozon's previous films. However, Celluloid Dreams, which is handling foreign sales duties on the Fidelite Productions title, has effortlessly sold it in all territories except for China and india.

8 Femmes has already grossed $1.3m at the box office in three weeks to date in North America, where it is released by Focus and has attracted some 1.2 million admissions in Germany (Constantin).