On Friday the Academy announced its short list for the Best Foreign Language Film. But not all nations are equal in Oscar's eyes.
Gael García Bernal in Chile's No.
The Academy of Motion Pictures released its short list for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar on Friday. In alphabetical order by country, here it is:
Austria, Amour
Canada, War Witch
Chile, No
Denmark, A Royal Affair
France, The Intouchables
Iceland, The Deep
Norway, Kon-Tiki
Romania, Beyond the Hills
Switzerland, Sister
Euro Trip
Death from Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, winner of 1957's Foreign Language Film category.
Europe is well represented on this year’s short list, as it has been since the category was introduced in 1956. Over the past 20 years, the field has expanded somewhat with countries like Iran, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Nepal, Peru, and Vietnam receiving their first nominations, and former powerhouses like Italy falling off in a big way (the latter was nominated 15 out of the first 20 years of the award, but has been nominated only four times in the last 20 years). But although the range of source countries has broadened, the category remains largely Europe’s game — winning films have been from Europe for 14 of the last 20 years. And for all the ballyhooing about the rise of world cinema, that ratio has only marginally improved in the last decade — six of the ten most recent winners were from outside of Europe.
