Italy's Gomorra Snubbed. The Foreign Language Film Oscar Finalists

I'll be delving further into Oscar's Foreign Language Film race in a few days since I will have seen a few more of the finalists. The various foreign language committees (it's complicated) have narrowed the field of 67 films down to onto a shortlist of 9 films. I'll give you my perspective next week. But first things first. There's always a high profile snub (or three). I'm just glad it wasn't The Class, which I adore (see my Best Picture nominees) and which won the Palme D'Or in Cannes earlier this year. No, this year's most high profile snub is that other Cannes smash, Italy's Gomorra. The hyperlink mafia film didn't make their finalist pool so it's outta there. IFC was set to release Gomorra in conjunction with the Oscar run so it'll be interesting to see if they proceed or if they delay. Unfortunately many distributors get non-committal with the foreign films they've grabbed which don't receive nominations.

Snubs are never exactly "surprising" in this often head-scratching category, but if you're talking general profile as a contender, Italy certainly had it. What's more, Italy is arguably Oscar's favorite country in this category. They've won 10 Foreign Language Film Oscars. France, which has had more nominees over the years, is Italy's only real rival with 9 wins.

The Finalists

• Revanche (Austria)
• The Necessities of Life (Canada)
• The Class (France) reopening soon
  
• Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (Germany)
• Waltz With Bashir (Israel) now playing
  
• Departures (Japan) *
  
• Tear This Heart Out (Mexico)
• Everlasting Moments (Sweden) *
  
• Three Monkeys (Turkey) *
  

The films with asterisks have US distribution and you might see them in theaters between now and summer but you never know. Distribution is always so problematic with foreign films and distributors are strangely slow on the draw even when Oscar buzz is in play. The Japanese film, for example, isn't slated to play in US theaters till this summer.

Five of those nine films will be named as Oscar nominees on January 22nd. Israel's Waltz With Bashir (my interview with the director), which has been having a great awards run with BFCA and Globe wins and France's The Class are both eligible in all Oscar categories since they were released within the general US eligibility period. The others are only eligible in Foreign Film.
*