The Academy’s 90th Oscars: Latest Round Of Contenders for Best Foreign Film — Michelle Hannett reports

Posted by Michelle Hannett on Dec 20, 2017 | 0 comments

On December 19, AMPAS announced that nine feature films will advance to the next round of voting in the Foreign Language Film category. Ninety-two films had originally been considered in the category. Foreign Language Film nominations for 2017 are determined in two phases.
The Phase I committee, consisting of Los Angeles-based Academy members, screened the original submissions in the category between mid-October and December 11. 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.

Academy members eligible to participate in the Nominations round of voting in New York, London, Los Angeles and, for the first time, the San Francisco Bay Area, will screen the nine shortlisted films in theaters over a three-day period from Friday, January 12, through Sunday, January 14, with three films screening each day. Additionally, international members (who live outside of the U.K.) will be invited to opt-in to stream the nine shortlisted films on the Academy’s member site. Members must see all nine films before casting their ballots.

Shortlisted films in alphabetical order by country, are:

Chile, “A Fantastic Woman,” Sebastián Lelio, director
Germany, “In the Fade,” Fatih Akin, director
Hungary, “On Body and Soul,” Ildikó Enyedi, director
Israel, “Foxtrot,” Samuel Maoz, director
Lebanon, “The Insult,” Ziad Doueiri, director
Russia, “Loveless,” Andrey Zvyagintsev, director
Senegal, “Félicité,” Alain Gomis, director
South Africa, “The Wound,” John Trengove, director
Sweden, “The Square,” Ruben Östlund, director