63 films were submitted and inexplicably, two favored front-runners “Persepolis” and the 2007 Cannes Fest Palme d’Or winner “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days,” were completely absent.
We call total bullshit. “Persepolis” was one of our favorite films of the year (top 2007 list, tbd). And ‘4 Months’ is supposed to be incredible (hint, hint, Ms. Grace Brodie Cruz).
The list of nine films will eventually be whittled down to five come Oscar time and the elite chosen group are films none of us have heard of [ed. god, we’ve never heard of them, so they must be terrible, right?] including “The Counterfeiters” (Austria); “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation” (Brazil); “Days of Darkness” (Canada); “Beaufort” (Israel); “The Unknown” (Italy); “Mongol” (Kazakhstan); “Katyn” (Poland); “12” (Russia); and “The Trap” (Serbia). [Variety]