Oscar® Foreign Film Short List

The two-phase nomination process for the Best Foreign-Language Film (BFLF) has whittled the list of 63 foreign motion pictures submitted for Oscar® nomination consideration, down to nine. More specifics on these movies later. For now, here's the list alphabetized by country, with directors:

Austria, THE COUNTERFEITERS, Stefan Ruzowitzky;
Brazil, THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION, Cao Hamburger;
Canada, DAYS OF DARKNESS, Denys Arcand;
Israel, BEAUFORT, Joseph Cedar;
Italy, THE UNKNOWN, Giuseppe Tornatore;
Kazakhstan, MONGOL, Sergei Bodrov;
Poland, KATYN, Andrzej Wajda;
Russia, 12, Nikita Mikhalkov;
Serbia, THE TRAP, Srdan Golubovic.

The Phase I committees formed to screen the initially-submitted motion pictures have done their job. Next, a Phase II committee will view the shortlisted films and select the five nominees for the category.

Phase II screenings will take place from Friday, 18 January, through Sunday, 20 January, in both Hollywood and New York City. That committee is composed of ten randomly selected members from the Phase I group, joined by specially invited ten-member contingents in New York and Los Angeles.

Nominations for the 80th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, 22 January 2008, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2007 will be presented on Sunday, 24 February 2008, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Mimi's addendum to that last paragraph: We hope!