Foreign Film Shortlist Snubs Critics' Favorites

The shortlist of nine contenders for the foreign-language Oscar was announced Tuesday. Disturbingly absent were many of our favorites from 2007: Cristian Mungiu's riveting abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania, pictured) which won the Palme D'or at Cannes, Marjane Satrapi's critically acclaimed animated film Persepolis (France), Juan Antonio Bayona's marvelously spooky ghost story The Orphanage, and Lee Chang-dong's harrowing drama Secret Sunshine (Korea). 

The nine films that made the cut: The Counterfeiters (Austria), The Year My Parents Went of Vacation (Brazil), Days of Darkness (Canada), Beaufort (Israel), The Unknown (Italy), Mongol (Kazakstan), Katyn (Poland), 12 (Russia), and The Trap (Serbia). Not one of the films on the shortlist has seen release in the U.S., so it's impossible to comment on their merit.

More: Past Foreign Film Oscar Winners