Algeria, "Days of Glory," Rachid Bouchareb, director;
Argentina, "Family Law," Daniel Burman, director;
Australia, "Ten Canoes," Rolf de Heer, director;
Austria, "You Bet Your Life," Antonin Svoboda, director;
Bangladesh, "Forever Flows," Abu Sayeed, director;
Belgium, "Someone Else's Happiness," Fien Troch, director;
Bolivia, "American Visa," Juan Carlos Valdivia, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Grbavica," Jasmila Zbanic, director;
Brazil, "Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures," Marcelo Gomes, director;
Bulgaria, "Monkeys in Winter," Milena Andonova, director;
Canada, "Water," Deepa Mehta, director;
Chile, "En la Cama," Matiaz Bize, director;
China, "Curse of the Golden Flower," Zhang Yimou, director;
Colombia, "A Ton of Luck," Rodrigo Triana, director;
Croatia, "Libertas," Veljko Bulajic, director;
Cuba, "El Benny," Jorge Luis Sanchez, director;
Czech Republic, "Lunacy," Jan Svankmajer, director;
Denmark, "After the Wedding," Susanne Bier, director;
Egypt, "The Yacoubian Building," Marwan Hamed, director;
France, "Avenue Montaigne," Daniele Thompson, director;
Germany, "The Lives of Others," Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, director;
Greece, "Chariton's Choir," Grigoris Karantinakis, director;
Hong Kong, "The Banquet," Feng Xiaogang, director;
Hungary, "White Palms," Szabolcs Hajdu, director;
Iceland, "Children," Ragnar Bragason, director;
India, "Rang De Basanti," Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, director;
Indonesia, "Love for Share," Nia Dinata, director;
Iran, "Transit Cafe," Kambozia Partovi, director;
Iraq, "Dreams," Mohamed Al-Daradji, director;
Israel, "Sweet Mud," Dror Shaul, director;
Italy, "Golden Door," Emanuele Crialese, director;
Japan, "Hula Girls," Sang-il Lee, director;
Kazakhstan, "Nomad," Sergei Bodrov, Talgat Temenov, Ivan Passer, directors;
Korea, "King and the Clown," Lee Jun-ik, director;
Kyrgyzstan, "The Wedding Chest," Nurbek Egen, director;
Lebanon, "Bosta," Philippe Aractingi, director;
Lithuania, "Before Flying Back to Earth," Arunas Matelis, director;
Macedonia, "Kontakt," Sergei Stanojkovski, director;
Mexico, "Pan's Labyrinth," Guillermo del Toro, director;
Morocco, "The Moroccan Symphony," Kamal Kamal, director;
Nepal, "Basain," Subash Prasad Gajurel, director;
The Netherlands, "Black Book," Paul Verhoeven, director;
Norway, "Reprise," Joachim Trier, director;
Peru, "Madeinusa," Claudia Llosa, director;
Philippines, "The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros," Auraeus Solito, director;
Poland, "Retrieval," Slawomir Fabicki, director;
Portugal, "Alice," Marco Martins, director;
Puerto Rico, "Thieves and Liars," Ricardo Mendez Matta, director;
Romania, "The Way I Spent the End of the World," Catalin Mitulescu, director;
Russia, "9th Company," Fyodor Bondarchuk, director;
Serbia, "Tomorrow Morning," Oleg Novkovic, director;
Slovenia, "Gravehopping," Jan Cvitkovic, director;
Spain, "Volver," Pedro Almodovar, director;
Sweden, "Falkenberg Farewell," Jesper Ganslandt, director;
Switzerland, "Vitus," Fredi M. Murer, director;
Taiwan, "Blue Cha Cha," Cheng Wen-tang, director;
Thailand, "Ahimsa Stop to Run," Leo Kittikorn, director;
Turkey, "Ice Cream, I Scream," Yuksel Aksu, director;
Ukraine, "Aurora," Oxana Bayrak, director;
Venezuela, "Maroa," Solveig Hoogesteijn, director;
Vietnam, "Story of Pao," Ngo Quang Hai, director.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=17090

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As I expected, Germany submitted The Lives of Others which I am pretty certain will garner a nomination. Volver is the obvious frontrunner for the win right now.

Although I dont know much about most of these films, I´d say Spain France and Germany look quite good for a nom (Again).


And hell will freeze over before than chilean movie is nominated for an Oscar. A naked couple talking in bed for 90 minutes. Not their cup of tea...

Doesn't the title of the movie mean "In bed"? My Spanish is a bit rusty, but I think tzhat's what it says, heh...

Yep. And It´s literal. One bed, one conversation, one penis, one vagina, 90 minutes.

I´d love to know how many walk outs are going to occur at Academy screenings.

My Predictions:

"Water"
"Pan's Labyrinth"
"Volver"
"Curse of the Golden Flower"
"The Lives of Others"

Good to see some recognizable names this year.

I can't believe the Philippines actually submitted The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros...

The German submission:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0405094/


Beat THAT!

It would be a huge surprise if Volver is not nominated at this point.

Mexico is also very likely. Pan's Labyrinth is getting amazing reviews (100% at Rotten Tomatoes. and i tihnk it was the film that received a 22 minute standing ovation at cannes??). It's also Del Toro directing.I don't know if it being a fantasy will affect it in anyway...it probably won't win but that probably wouldn't happen because of Volver regardless.

Germany, yes.

France, no.

I'm not really sure about the others. I'm actually a bit interested in En La Cama just because it sounds like a darker Before Sunrise/Sunset.

Curse of the Golden Flower supposedly got a good reception at home, but I'm not getting my hope up considering what happened to House of Flying Daggers. With a similarly structured title and the same Zhang Yimou, could have the "been there, done that" type of feeling.

Actually, Rod, at this point it'd be a huge surprise if Volver doesn't win!

I'm thinking Volver, The Lives of Others, Pan's Labyrinth, The Curse of the Golden Flower and something absolutely unexpected.

Has Spain and Mexico faced off in the category before?

If any film has a chance to upset Volver, it'd be The Lives of Others, IMO

You say that about every German film every year.

I'd keep an eye out for Pan's Labyrinth. It has the potential to become a huge hit (I'm thinking $50+ million) and really it's getting better reviews than Volver. If it does that kind of business it will be hard to ignore.

Either way it's looking like a very strong year for foreign films after a relatively quiet one last year.

The last and only time Spain and Mexico were nominated in the same year was 1961. (well, i guess 1962)

Pan's Labyrinth will be screened for academy award mebers tomorrow, btw.

But it should be kept in mind that it is fantasy afterall. And the Academy loves Almodovar.

oh... i didnt know Pan's was from Mexico, i thought it was from Spain ....

its out right now over here... and i cant go.....

I´ve seen Pan's Labyrinth and, even If I find it brilliant, I am tempted to say It won´t appeal very much to Academy members (specially the older folks who vote in this category). It is a very dark, quite perverse gothic tale, very gory at points, and has a the feel of a geek director doing a geek movie for geek, fantasy-loving fans.

I loved it, but right now I don´t think It has many chances to even be nominated (Also, I can not think of any movie like it being nominated before for best picture, foreign or not)

Water was pretty big in Canada. Not sure what it's about but it was even marketted by Blockbuster poster ads when it came out in Toronto.

I hope Pan's Labryinth wins, but like others have said, fantasy/horror isn't exactly the Academy's favorite genre.

Volver looks like it's in a good position to win.

I could also see Pan's Labyrinth winning, so far it's gotten an incredible amount of acclaim.

It's shaping up to be a fantastic race:

Volver - 91% RT, 7.7 average, 7.7 IMDb, 5,233 votes, 84 MC, 4 100s

Pan's Labyrinth - 100% RT, 8.3 average, 8.3 IMDb, 2,502 votes

The Lives of Others - 8.5 IMDb, 1,286 votes

Hopefully The Lives of Others will pull an upset

its going to be a tight race between Volver and Pan's Labyrinth in my eyes. Both are very enjoyable films with Pan's holding the edge for me.

No it wouldn't. That would be Ten Canoes.

http://www.metacritic.com/film/highscores.shtml

the reviews are amazing.

at this point i would no longer call volver a lock, and if box office for labyrinth is good ($25 million+) i think volver will have a pretty hard time keeping its frontrunner status.

I think things are looking more and more in Labyrinth's favor. Though, Volver is definately its most sure competition. Then again, if Cruz gets nominated in acting, it could result in vote splitting, no?