Roma, all over

Clarisse Loughrey

A shortlist of entries for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award was released earlier this week, with nine picked out of a field of 87 submissions. 

The list is led by Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, which is in the unusual position of being in heavy contention for the Foreign Language award and also for Best Picture. No film in a language other than English has ever won the top prize for Best Picture.

Other contenders include Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters, the former having missed out on a Golden Globe nomination. Lee Chang-dong’s Burning also made the list.

Golden Globe nominee Girl, by Belgium’s Lukas Dhont, did not make it to the shortlist, following heavy criticism of the film over its depiction of the trans experience by a cis actor and cis director, which has been branded “irresponsible” and “dangerous”. 

Also failing to make the cut is Sweden’s Border, a fantasy film set in a border agency. The Phase I foreign language voting group decides on six titles for the shortlist, while the executive committee selects three further films.

From the nine currently on the shortlist, the five nominees will be revealed on 22 January, alongside the rest of the Oscar nominations. — The Independent