Nine features competing for Best Foreign Language OscarDecember 21, 2013 - 10:56 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Nine features will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category for the 86th Academy Awards. Seventy-six films had originally been considered in the category, The Hollywood Reporter said. The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are: Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen, director Bosnia and Herzegovina, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, Danis Tanovic, director Cambodia, The Missing Picture, Rithy Panh, director Denmark, The Hunt, Thomas Vinterberg, director Germany, Two Lives, Georg Maas, director Hong Kong, The Grandmaster, Wong Kar-wai, director Hungary, The Notebook, Janos Szasz, director Italy, The Great Beauty, Paolo Sorrentino, director Palestine, Omar, Hany Abu-Assad, director Notable omissions from the shortlist include Asghar Farhadi's The Past, starring Berenice Bejo and Wadjda from Saudi Arabia. While Abdellatif Kechiche's lesbian drama Blue Is the Warmest Color won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, it was not released in France by Sept. 30, the cut-off date for eligibility for this year's entries. Nominees for the foreign film category are being determined through a two-step process. In the first phase, several hundred L.A.-based Academy members screen the original submissions and the group's top six choices -- augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy's Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee -- constitute the shortlist. The shortlist will be cut down to five nominees by specially invited committees in New York and Los Angeles. The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and televised live on ABC. Related links: Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. Aram I supports Karekin II’s “patriotic position” Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I has expressed support for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. |