Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta and Elle, starring Isabelle Huppert, have already been knocked out of the race for the best foreign language film Oscar, despite being two of the most high-profile and critically acclaimed international films of the year.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its nine-strong shortlist, slimmed down from the 85 entries for the category put forward by individual national award committees. Six films on the shortlist are drawn from a vote by an LA-based panel consisting of several hundred Academy members, plus three additional picks from the foreign language film award executive committee. This system, introduced in 2006, is designed to prevent past embarrassments when acclaimed films failed to gain a nomination.
However, with the omission of Elle and Julieta, along with such celebrated films as Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire at Sea and Neruda, by the Chilean director Pablo Larraín, the Academy appears to have been unable to fully address the problem. Elle, directed by Paul Verhoeven and representing France, has already featured strongly on the US awards circuit, with lead actor Isabelle Huppert picking up multiple gongs after receiving high praise on its debut at Cannes. Likewise, the snub to Julieta, the latest film from Spanish auteur Almodóvar, was unexpected, although it has not benefited from quite the same level of critical adulation as Elle.
Two festival circuit favourites, Germany’s Toni Erdmann (directed by Maren Ade), and The Salesman, from Iranian Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi, have made the shortlist, along with It’s Only the End of the World from Canadian director Xavier Dolan – which has drawn a decidedly mixed response compared to his previous film, Mommy – and Paradise, from veteran Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky, which has received middling reviews.
The nine films will then be voted on by invited panels of members based in Los Angeles, New York and London, to create the final five-film nomination list, which will be announced on 24 January. The final winner, voted on by the full eligible membership of the Academy, will be announced at the Oscars ceremony on 26 February.
Full list of best foreign-language Oscar shortlist
Tanna (dirs: Bentley Dean, Martin Butler, Aus)
It’s Only the End of the World (dir: Xavier Dolan, Can)
Land of Mine (dir: Martin Zandvliet, Den)
Toni Erdmann (dir: Maren Ade, Ger)
The Salesman (dir: Asghar Farhadi, Iran)
The King’s Choice (dir: Erik Poppe, Nor)
Paradise (dir: Andrei Konchalovsky, Rus)
A Man Called Ove (dir: Hannes Holm, Swe)
My Life as a Zucchini (dir: Claude Barras, Swi)
•This article was amended on 17 Dece,ber 2016, to correct Fire at Sea’s festival award.
