OSCAR WATCH: Foreign Language Contenders

Palme d'Or winner Dheepan

With this year's Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca and Cannes Film Festivals behind us, I decided to do a little preliminary prognostication on the upcoming Foreign Language Oscar race. Here are some of the films I've identified based mainly on the following criteria:

• Festival Awards (Sundance, Berlin, Cannes or Tribeca)
• National Awards
• Previously submitted director
• Prime US distributor (i.e. Sony Pictures Classics)

Sworn Virgin (Tribeca Nora Ephron Prize) - Albania

Paulina (Cannes Critics' Week winner) - Argentina

The Second Mother (Sundance Acting Prize and Berlin Audience Award winner) - Brazil

The Club (Pablo Larrain, Berlin Grand Prix) - Chile

Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra, Cannes Directors Fortnight winner) - Colombia

The High Sun (Dalibor Matanic, Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury Prize) - Croatia

Lamb - Ethiopia

Dheepan (Jacques Audiard, Cannes Palme d'Or winner) - France

Victoria (Berlin Best Cinematography) or Labyrinth of Lies (Sony Pictures Classics) or 13 Minutes (Oliver Hirschbiegel, Sony Pictures Classics) - Germany

Son of Saul (Cannes Grand Prix, Sony Pictures Classics) - Hungary

Rams (Un Certain Regard winner) or Virgin Mountain (Dagur Kari, Tribeca Best Narrative Feature + Best Actor + Best Screenplay) - Iceland

Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Koreeda, Sony Pictures Classics) or Journey to the Shore (Cannes Un Certain Regard Best Director) - Japan

The Summer of Sangaile (Sundance Best Director) - Lithuania

Panama Canal Stories (Abner Benaim) - Panama

Body (Berlin Best Director) or Bogowie (Polish Film Awards Winner) - Poland

Aferim! (Berlin Best Director) or The Treasure (Corneliu Porumboiu, Cannes Prix Un Certain Talent) - Romania

The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Cannes Best Director) - Taiwan

Cemetery of Splendour (Apichatpong Weerasethakul) - Thailand

Mustang (Cannes Europa Cinemas Label Award) - Turkey


Are there any I'm missing? Let me know in the comments.

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