SA entry doesn’t make Oscars list

Nine movies have made the cut to compete for a nomination for the best foreign-language film Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says.

The official movie entered by South Africa, the prison drama Skollie, was, however, outdone.

The shortlist includes Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann, a German comedy about a troubled father-daughter relationship, which added a Golden Globe nomination in the foreign-language category last after sweeping the SA entry doesn’t make Oscars list board at the weekend’s European film awards.

Other frontrunners include The Salesman, a drama about violence and its consequences by Iranian Asghar Farhadi, whose 2011 movie A Separation won the foreign-language Oscar, and Xavier Dolan’s Canadian drama It’s Only the End of the World, which bagged the Cannes Grand Prix. Nominations for the 89th Annual Academy Awards are expected to be announced on January 24, and the ceremony is set for February 26 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

The films are:

• Tanna (Australia)
• It’s Only the End of the World (Canada)
• Land of Mine (Denmark)
• Toni Erdmann (Germany)
• The Salesman (Iran)
• The King’s Choice (Norway)
• Paradise (Russia)
• A Man Called Ove (Sweden)
• My Life as a Zucchini (Switzerland)

– AFP