Oscar 2007: Best Foreign Language Semi-Finalists

Cécile De France in Avenue Montaigne (top); Mads Mikkelsen in After the Wedding (middle); Carice van Houten in The Black Book (bottom)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has narrowed down to nine titles the list of potential 2007 best foreign-language film nominees.
They are (listed in alphabetical order by country):

Algeria, Days of Glory, Rachid Bouchareb, director
Canada, Water, Deepa Mehta, director
Denmark, After the Wedding , Susanne Bier, director
France, Avenue Montaigne, Danièle Thompson, director
Germany, The Lives of Others, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, director
Mexico, Pan’s Labyrinth, Guillermo del Toro, director
The Netherlands, Black Book, Paul Verhoeven, director
Spain, Volver, Pedro Almodóvar, director
Switzerland, Vitus, Fredi M. Murer, director

Though it may seem that the above films hail from all (or most) corners of the globe, [...]