Oscar 2011: Best Foreign Language Film Contenders

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cannes winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Oscar 2011: Best Foreign Language Film Entries – Obvious Choices

Sixty-five countries (including a couple of territories) have submitted films for the 2011 Oscar’s Best Foreign Language Film category. Ethiopia and Greenland, the latter an “autonomous” territory that is part of the Danish Commonwealth, have sent in entries for the first time, The Athlete and Nuummioq, respectively.

How many of those 65 movies will actually be considered eligible for the award is unclear, as just about every year some movie or other is disqualified on a technicality — or, at times, more than that; say, if the Academy doesn’t get a screening print or if the movie opened in its country of origin before or after the eligibility window.

Nine semi-finalists in the Best Foreign Language Film category will be announced on January 20, 2011. The final list of nominees will come out five days later.

The 2011 Academy Award nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The 2011 Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. In the US, it’ll be broadcast live on ABC.

The 2010 submissions are:

Albania, East, West, East, Gjergj Xhuvani, director;

Algeria, Hors la Loi / Outside the Law, Rachid Bouchareb, director;

Argentina, Carancho, Pablo Trapero, director;

Austria, La Pivellina, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, directors;

Azerbaijan, The Precinct, Ilgar Safat, director;

Bangladesh, Third Person Singular Number, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director;

Belgium, Illegal, Olivier Masset-Depasse, director;

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Circus Columbia, Danis Tanovic, director;

Brazil, Lula, the Son of Brazil, Fabio Barreto, director;

Bulgaria, Eastern Plays, Kamen Kalev, director;

Canada, Incendies, Denis Villeneuve, director;

Chile, The Life of Fish, Matias Bize, director;

China, Aftershock, Feng Xiaogang, director;

Colombia, Crab Trap, Oscar Ruiz Navia, director;

Costa Rica, Of Love and Other Demons, Hilda Hidalgo, director;

Croatia, The Blacks, Goran Devic and Zvonimir Juric, directors;

Czech Republic, Kawasaki’s Rose, Jan Hrebejk, director;

Denmark, In a Better World, Susanne Bier, director;

Egypt, Messages from the Sea, Daoud Abdel Sayed, director;

Estonia, The Temptation of St. Tony, Veiko Ounpuu, director;

Ethiopia, The Athlete, Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew, directors;

Finland, Steam of Life, Joonas Berghall and Mika Hotakainen, directors;

France, Of Gods and Men, Xavier Beauvois, director;

Georgia, Street Days, Levan Koguashvili, director;

Germany, When We Leave, Feo Aladag, director;

Greece, Dogtooth, Yorgos Lanthimos, director;

Greenland, Nuummioq, Otto Rosing and Torben Bech, directors;

Hong Kong, Echoes of the Rainbow, Alex Law, director;

Hungary, Bibliotheque Pascal, Szabolcs Hajdu, director;

Iceland, Mamma Gogo, Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, director;

India, Peepli / Live, Anusha Rizvi, director;

Indonesia, How Funny (Our Country Is), Deddy Mizwar, director;

Iran, Farewell Baghdad, Mehdi Naderi, director;

Iraq, Son of Babylon, Mohamed Al-Daradji, director;

Israel, The Human Resources Manager, Eran Riklis, director;

Italy, La Prima Cosa Bella / The First Beautiful Thing, Paolo Virzi, director;

Japan, Confessions, Tetsuya Nakashima, director;

Kazakhstan, Strayed, Akan Satayev, director;

Korea, A Barefoot Dream, Tae-kyun Kim, director;

Kyrgyzstan, The Light Thief, Aktan Arym Kubat, director;

Latvia, Hong Kong Confidential, Maris Martinsons, director;

Macedonia, Mothers, Milcho Manchevski, director;

Mexico, Biutiful, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, director;

Netherlands, Tirza, Rudolf van den Berg, director;

Nicaragua, La Yuma, Florence Jaugey, director;

Norway, The Angel, Margreth Olin, director;

Peru, Undertow / Contracorriente, Javier Fuentes-Leon, director;

Philippines, Noy, Dondon S. Santos and Rodel Nacianceno, directors;

Poland, All That I Love, Jacek Borcuch, director;

Portugal, To Die Like a Man, Joao Pedro Rodrigues, director;

Puerto Rico, Miente / Lie, Rafael Mercado, director;

Romania, If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle, Florin Serban, director;

Russia, The Edge, Alexey Uchitel, director;

Serbia, Besa, Srdjan Karanovic, director;

Slovakia, Hranica / The Border, Jaroslav Vojtek, director;

Slovenia, 9:06, Igor Sterk, director;

South Africa, Life, Above All, Oliver Schmitz, director;

Spain, Tambien la Lluvia / Even the Rain, Iciar Bollain, director;

Sweden, Simple Simon, Andreas Ohman, director;

Switzerland, La petite chambre, Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond, directors;

Taiwan, Monga, Chen-zer Niu, director;

Thailand, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, director;

Turkey, Bal / Honey, Semih Kaplanoglu, director;

Uruguay, La Vida Util, Federico Veiroj, director;

Venezuela, Hermano, Marcel Rasquin, director.