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A Record 54 Countries Submit Foreign Language Films for Consideration

© Nicholas Moreau

As we await the start to the 2002 film awards season with the announcement of the National Board of Review choices on Wednesday, the Academy released the complete list of eligible foreign films for this year's Foreign Language Film Oscar. A record number of countries submitted films this time, a total of 54, with 3 countries submitting films for the very first time. Showing a sign of the times, Afghanistan submitted their first entry ever, as well as the countries of Chad and Bangladesh.

If you're not familiar with how the foreign language film category selections are made, each country chooses one film as its official entry for Oscar consideration. Juries that are made up of filmmakers in each of those countries make the ultimate choice. So there can never be more than one film from each country. The Foreign Language Film Committee of the Academy then screens each film, and ultimately votes on the five nominees. The screening committee will begin viewing these films this week.

Some discussions have already begun about some countries not submitting some of their most obvious choices for foreign language film consideration, but here is the final complete list of each country's film for consideration, from which we'll finally have a nominations list of five come February.

The submissions for 2002 are:

Afghanistan, "FireDancer," Jawed Wassel, director;

Algeria, "Rachida," Yamina Bachir-Chouikh, director;

Argentina, "Kamchatka," Marcelo Piñeyro, director;

Austria, "Gebürtig," Robert Schindel & Lukas Stepanik, directors;

Bangladesh, "The Clay Bird," Tareque Masud, director;

Belgium, "The Son," Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, directors;

Brazil, "City of God," Fernando Meirelles, director;

Bulgaria, "Warming up Yesterday's Lunch," Kostadin Bonev, director;

Canada, "Un Crabe Dans la Tête," André Turpin, director;

Chad, "Abouna," Mahamat Saleh Haroun, director;

Chile, "Ogu y Mampato en Rapa Nui," Alejandro Rojas, director;

China, "Hero," Zhang Yimou, director;

Colombia, "The Invisible Children," Lisandro Duque Naranjo, director;

Croatia, "Fine Dead Girls," Dalibor Matanic, director;

Cuba, "Nothing More," Juan Carlos Cremata, director;

Czech Republic, "Wild Bees," Bohdan Sláma, director;

Denmark, "Open Hearts," Susanne Bier, director;

Egypt, "The Secret of the Young Girl," Magdy Ahmed Aly, director;

Finland, "The Man without a Past," Aki Kaurismaki, director;

France, "8 Women," François Ozon, director;

Germany, "Nowhere in Africa," Caroline Link, director;

Greece, "The Only Journey of His Life," Lakis Papastathis, director;

Hungary, "Hukkle," György Pálfi, director;

Iceland, "The Sea," Baltasar Kormakur, director;

India, "Devdas," Sanjay Leela Bhansail, director;

Indonesia, "Ca-bau-kan," Nia diNata, director;

Iran, "I'm Taraneh, 15," Rassul Sadr-Ameli, director;