FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Below is the initial list of Foreign Language films up for consideration for this year’s Academy Awards. There’s four I’ve actually heard of including “Amour”, from Austria, which appears to be a shoe-in for making the final cut, “Sister”, from Switzerland, which just hit theaters this past weekend, and “The Intouchables”, from France, which received favorable reviews earlier this year (May). I also came across “Kon-Tiki”, from Norway, this summer which looks slightly similar to the film “Life of Pi” set to release this year as well.
- Afghanistan, “The Patience Stone,” Atiq Rahimi, director;
- Albania, “Pharmakon,” Joni Shanaj, director;
- Algeria, “Zabana!” Said Ould Khelifa, director;
- Argentina, “Clandestine Childhood,” Benjamín Ávila, director;
- Armenia, “If Only Everyone,” Natalia Belyauskene, director;
- Australia, “Lore,” Cate Shortland, director;
- Austria, “Amour,” Michael Haneke, director;
- Azerbaijan, “Buta,” Ilgar Najaf, director;
- Bangladesh, “Pleasure Boy Komola,” Humayun Ahmed, director;
- Belgium, “Our Children,” Joachim Lafosse, director;
- Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Children of Sarajevo,” Aida Begic, director;
- Brazil, “The Clown,” Selton Mello, director;
- Bulgaria, “Sneakers,” Valeri Yordanov and Ivan Vladimirov, directors;
- Cambodia, “Lost Loves,” Chhay Bora, director;
- Canada, “War Witch,” Kim Nguyen, director;
- Chile, “No,” Pablo Larraín, director;
- China, “Caught in the Web,” Chen Kaige, director;
- Colombia, “The Snitch Cartel,” Carlos Moreno, director;
- Croatia, “Vegetarian Cannibal,” Branko Schmidt, director;
- Czech Republic, “In the Shadow,” David Ondrícek, director;
- Denmark, “A Royal Affair,” Nikolaj Arcel, director;
- Dominican Republic, “Jaque Mate,” José María Cabral, director;
- Estonia, “Mushrooming,” Toomas Hussar, director;
- Finland, “Purge,” Antti J. Jokinen, director;
- France, “The Intouchables,” Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors;
- Georgia, “Keep Smiling,” Rusudan Chkonia, director;
- Germany, “Barbara,” Christian Petzold, director;
- Greece, “Unfair World,” Filippos Tsitos, director;
- Greenland, “Inuk,” Mike Magidson, director;
- Hong Kong, “Life without Principle,” Johnnie To, director;
- Hungary, “Just the Wind,” Bence Fliegauf, director;
- Iceland, “The Deep,” Baltasar Kormákur, director;
- India, “Barfi!” Anurag Basu, director;
- Indonesia, “The Dancer,” Ifa Isfansyah, director;
- Israel, “Fill the Void,” Rama Burshtein, director;
- Italy, “Caesar Must Die,” Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani, directors;
- Japan, “Our Homeland,” Yang Yonghi, director;
- Kazakhstan, “Myn Bala: Warriors of the Steppe,” Akan Satayev, director;
- Kenya, “Nairobi Half Life,” David ‘Tosh’ Gitonga, director;
- Kyrgyzstan, “The Empty Home,” Nurbek Egen, director;
- Latvia, “Gulf Stream under the Iceberg,” Yevgeny Pashkevich, director;
- Lithuania, “Ramin,” Audrius Stonys, director;
- Macedonia, “The Third Half,” Darko Mitrevski, director;
- Malaysia, “Bunohan,” Dain Iskandar Said, director;
- Mexico, “After Lucia,” Michel Franco, director;
- Morocco, “Death for Sale,” Faouzi Bensaïdi, director;
- Netherlands, “Kauwboy,” Boudewijn Koole, director;
- Norway, “Kon-Tiki,” Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors;
- Palestine, “When I Saw You,” Annemarie Jacir, director;
- Peru, “The Bad Intentions,” Rosario García-Montero, director;
- Philippines, “Bwakaw,” Jun Robles Lana, director;
- Poland, “80 Million,” Waldemar Krzystek, director;
- Portugal, “Blood of My Blood,” João Canijo, director;
- Romania, “Beyond the Hills,” Cristian Mungiu, director;
- Russia, “White Tiger,” Karen Shakhnazarov, director;
- Serbia, “When Day Breaks,” Goran Paskaljevic, director;
- Singapore, “Already Famous,” Michelle Chong, director;
- Slovak Republic, “Made in Ash,” Iveta Grófová, director;
- Slovenia, “A Trip,” Nejc Gazvoda, director;
- South Africa, “Little One,” Darrell James Roodt, director;
- South Korea, “Pieta,” Kim Ki-duk, director;
- Spain, “Blancanieves,” Pablo Berger, director;
- Sweden, “The Hypnotist,” Lasse Hallström, director;
- Switzerland, “Sister,” Ursula Meier, director;
- Taiwan, “Touch of the Light,” Chang Jung-Chi, director;
- Thailand, “Headshot,” Pen-ek Ratanaruang, director;
- Turkey, “Where the Fire Burns,” Ismail Gunes, director;
- Ukraine, “The Firecrosser,” Mykhailo Illienko, director;
- Uruguay, “The Delay,” Rodrigo Plá, director;
- Venezuela, “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” Hernán Jabes, director;
- Vietnam, “The Scent of Burning Grass,” Nguyen Huu Muoi, director.
