2015 Oscars Poll: Which Five Foreign Language Film Finalists Will Be Oscar Nominated?

Erik Anderson December 19, 2014

Russia's Leviathan, one of nine films selected to compete for a 2015 Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination — Russia’s *Leviathan*, one of nine films selected to compete for a 2015 Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination

The finalists for the Foreign Language Film Oscar are in and not without some surprising inclusions (the Golden Globe-nominated Tangerines from Estonia) and some shocking snubs (Canada’s Mommy, Belgium’s Two Days, One Night and Turkey’s Winter Sleep).

Film: Wild Tales, ARGENTINA

Oscar History: 6 nominations with 2 wins. The only Latin American winning country.
First time by director Damien Szifron.
Since 2001, Ricardo Darin, one of the leads, has starred in 7 Argentinian submissions.

Film: Tangerines, ESTONIA

Oscar History: First time Estonia has made the shortlist and first potential nomination.
Second time for director Zaza Urushadze.
The previous Zaza Urushadze submission was from his homeland. Georgia.

Film: Corn Island, GEORGIA

Oscar History: 1 previous nomination in 1996.
First time for director Giorgi Ovashvili.
Georgia is one of the three ex USSR-nominated countries in this category alongside Russia and Kazakhstan.

Film: Timbuktu, MAURITANIA

Oscar History: First time Mauritania has made the shortlist and first potential nomination.
First time for Abderrahmane Sissako.
If nominated, Mauritania will be the third Sub-saharian country after Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa.

Film: Accused, THE NETHERLANDS

Oscar History: 7 nominations and 3 wins.
Second time for Paula van der Oest. The only director from the shortlist who was previously nominated; in 2002 for Zus & Zo.
Since last nomination in 2003, The Netherlands was only in the 2009 shortlist.

Film: Ida, POLAND

Oscar History: 9 nominations with 0 wins.
First time for Paweł Pawlikowski.
If Poland loses after being nominated, it will be tied with Israel as the biggest loser in this category.

Film: Leviathan, RUSSIA

Oscar History: 5 nominations with 1 win (Only counted for Russian submissions)
Second time for Andrey Zvyagintsev.
Russia returned to the fight after 2007. That time it was nominated alongside another ex-USSR country (Kazakhstan).

Film: Force Majeure, SWEDEN

Oscar History: 14 nominations with 3 wins (All the wins thanks to Ingmar Bergman).
Second time by Ruben Östlund.
Since their last nomination in 2003, Sweden was in 2008 and 2010 shortlists.

Film: The Liberator, VENEZUELA

Oscar History: First time Venezuela has entered in the shortlist and first potential nomination.
Third time for Raul Arevalo.
If Venezuela is nominated it will be the fifth South American country, after Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile. Sixth, if you include Uruguay’s disqualified nom.

Other trivia:
-14 submissions directed by women, including the Israeli submission, but only Netherlands made it to the shortlist.
-The most famous faces, by international cinephiles, came from Latin American submissions. Edgar Ramirez and Danny Huston from Venezuelan film and Ricardo Darin, Leonardo Sbaraglia and Dario Grandinetti from Wild Tales. Recently, Agata Kulesza made headlines thanks to Ida‘s popularity.
-For first time in the shortlist, Western Europe didn’t dominate. This time, half of the submissions came from Eastern Europe: Poland, Estonia, Russia and Georgia.
-Spanish is the dominant language.

Who do you think will be Oscar nominated on January 15th, 2015?

[poll id=”6″]

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.