63 Foreign Films Vie for Oscar Nomination

Only five films will get a nomination, but 63 countries have submitted entries for consideration for Best Foreign Language Film category for the 80th Academy Awards.

None of the films can currently be seen at a theater near you, but several of the front runners recently screened at the New York Film Festival: J.A. Bayona's creepy horror pic The Orphanage (Spain), Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's animated Persepolis (France), Cristian Mungiu's abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania) -- already winner of the Palme D'or at Cannes--, Chang-dong Lee's mesmerizing drama Secret Sunshine (Korea), Masayuki Suo's legal nightmare I Just Didn't Do It (Japan), and Carlos Reygadas's Silent Light (Mexico).

Most notable in its absence is Ang Lee's Lust, Caution. The NC-17 rated film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and is a box office hit in Taiwan, but was withdrawn from award contention. Officials citied an insufficient number of Taiwanese participants and replaced the film Chen Huai-en's lower profile Island Etude.

Other countries have had their own share of controversy. Israel's original entry The Band's Visit was disqualified for having too much English and was replaced by Joseph Cedar's Beaufort instead. India's selection of Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Eklavya – The Royal Guard was a hotly contested choice. The film was a box office flop and legal accusations state that the members of the jury were close to the film's director.

Here is the complete list of films.