The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences just announced its nine-film short list that will contend for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language category. In a surprising move, no Latin American film made it to the list, not even Chilean favorite Gloria (pictured) by Sebastián Lelio which had been included in many Oscars predictions.
The final nine films that made the cut are Belgium's The Broken Circle Breakdown, Bosnia and Herzegovina's An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, Cambodia's The Missing Picture, Denmark's The Hunt, Germany's Two Lives, Hong Kong's The Grandmaster, Hungary's The Notebook, Italy 's The Great Beauty and Palestina's Omar. The final nominations will be announced on January 16, 2014.
In total, nine Latin American film had submitted candidates to this year's Academy Awards. In addition to the Chilean film Gloria, the other Latin American candidates were Brazil's Neighboring Sounds, Colombia's La Playa DC, Dominican Republic's Who's the Boss?, Ecuador's Porcelain Horse, Mexico's Heli, Peru's The Cleaner, Uruguay's Anina and Venezuela's Breach in the Silence.
The Oscars have had a very timid relationship with Mexico. Only two Latin American films have won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, both from Argentina: La historia oficial / The Official Story by Luis Puenzo in 1985, and El secreto de sus ojos / The Secret in their Eyes by Juan José Campanella in 2009. At eight, Mexico is the country with the most nominations but no wins.
