The New york times:
Nine out of 85 foreign feature movies have landed on the shortlist for the 2017 Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday. While the festival favorite, Germany’s “Toni Erdmann,” made the cut as expected, a few heavily promoted and celebrated films did not, including, most surprisingly, France’s entry, “Elle,” directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Isabelle Huppert — who has collected several awards and nominations for her performance. Other unexpected omissions are the Chilean entry, Pablo Larraín’s “Neruda,” and Pedro Almodóvar’s “Julieta.”
The list is heavily European, but there was room for entries from Canada (a movie by the Montreal auteur Xavier Dolan), Australia (what has been billed as the first film ever shot on the island Vanuatu) and Iran (a revenge tale by Asghar Farhadi, whose “A Separation” won the category in 2012).
The nine semifinalist films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:
Australia: “Tanna,” Bentley Dean, Martin Butler, directors
Canada: “It’s Only the End of the World,” Xavier Dolan, director
Denmark: “Land of Mine,” Martin Zandvliet, director
Germany: “Toni Erdmann,” Maren Ade, director
Iran: “The Salesman,” Asghar Farhadi, director
Norway: “The King’s Choice,” Erik Poppe, director
Russia: “Paradise,” Andrei Konchalovsky, director
Sweden: “A Man Called Ove,” Hannes Holm, director
Switzerland: “My Life as a Zucchini,” Claude Barras, director.
