Oscars Award 2009 Best Foreign Language Films Announced; Ploning Not Included

The 2009 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the nine films eligible for Best Foreign Language Film category out of the 65 submitted films from different countries, including the Philippine's Ploning. But unfortunately, the Judy Ann Santos starrer movie did not make the cut.

The 9 films included in the shortlist are:

1. Revanche, directed by Gotz Spielmann (Austria)

2. The Necessities of Life, directed by Benoit Pilon (Canada)

3. The Class, directed by Laurent Cantet (France)

4. The Baader Meinhof Complex, directed by Uli Edel (Germany)

5. Waltz With Bashir, directed by Ari Folman (Israel)

6. Departures, directed by Yojiro Takita (Japan)

7. Tear This Heart Out, directed by Roberto Sneider (Mexico)

8. Everlasting Moments, directed by Jan Troell (Sweden)

9. 3 Monkeys, directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey)

Trivia:

1. Israel's entry Waltz With Bashir was already won Best Foreign Language Film at the recently concluded Golden Globe Awards 2009.

2. There are three Asian films included in this year's shortlist - Israel, Japan and Turkey).

3. Big favorite Gomorra (Italy), which already earned Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards nominations, unfortunately missed the cut in this year's Oscars in favor of the surprising entries from Japan, Mexico and Turkey.

According to a report by Susan King in theenvelope.latimes.com, several hundred Los Angeles-based members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted for their six top choices among the 65 eligible films, while the three titles were selected by Academy's Foreign Language Film Award Executive committee

This short list will be narrowed down to five nominees by specially selected committees, both in Los Angeles and New York, who will spend this weekend screening three films per day.

The nominations for the 81st annual Academy Awards will be announced on January 22.