The 72nd Annual Academy Awards®

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Record 47 countries hope to win Best Foreign Language

Awards Coordinator Patrick Stockstill has a tough job on his hands. With a record 47 countries vying for the Best Foreign Language Film, he must schedule over 100 hours of screenings so that the Foreign Language Film Award Committee can narrow the field down to just five nominees.

The films and countries are:

Argentina, "Manuelita," Manuel Garcia Ferre, director; Austria, "Northern Skirts," Barbara Albert, director; Belgium, "Rosetta," Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, directors; Bhutan, "The Cup," Khyentse Norbu, director; Brazil, "Orfeu," Carlos Diegues, director; Canada, "Set Me Free," Léa Pool, director; China, "Lover's Grief over the Yellow River," Feng Xiao Ning, director;

Colombia, "Time Out," Sergio Cabrera, director; Croatia, "Red Dust," Zrinko Ogresta, director; Czech Republic, "Return of the Idiot," Sasa Gedeon, director; Denmark, "Mifune," Soren Kragh-Jacobsen, director; Finland, "The Tough Ones," Aleksi Mäkelä, director; France, "East-West," Régis Wargnier, director; Georgia, "Here Comes the Dawn," Zaza Urushadze, director; Germany, "Aimée & Jaguar," Max Färberböck, director; Greece, "From the Edge of the City," Constantinos Giannaris, director; Hong Kong, "Ordinary Heroes," Ann Hui, director; Hungary, "The Lord's Lantern in Budapest," Miklós Jancsó, director; Iceland, "The Honour of the House," Gudny Halldorsdottir, director.

India, "Earth," Deepa Mehta, director; Indonesia, "Sri," Marselli Sumarno, director; Iran, "The Colours of Paradise," Majid Majidi, director; Israel, "Yana's Friend," Arik Kaplun, director; Italy, "Not of this World," Giuseppe Piccioni, director; Japan, "Railroad Man," Yasuo Furuhata, director; Lebanon, "Around the Pink House," Khalil Joreige & Joana Hadjithomas, directors; Mexico, "El Coronel no tiene quien le escriba," Arturo Ripstein, director; Nepal, "Caravan," Eric Valli, director; The Netherlands, "Scratches in the Table," Ineke Houtman, director; Norway, "The Prompter," Hilde Heier, director; Peru, "Captain Pantoja and the Special Services," Francisco J. Lombardi, director; The Philippines, "The Kite," Gil M. Portes, director; Poland, "Pan Tadeusz," Andrzej Wajda, director; Portugal, "The Mutants," Teresa Villaverde, director; Romania, "The Famous Paparazzo", Nicolae Margineanu, director; Russia, "Moloch," Alexander Sokurov, director; Slovakia, "All My Loved Ones," Matej Minác, director; Spain, "All About My Mother," Pedro Almodóvar, director; Sweden, "Under the Sun," Colin Nutley, director; Switzerland, "Beresina, or The Last Days of Switzerland," Daniel Schmid, director; Tadjikistan, "Luna Papa," Bakhtiar Khudojnazarov, director; Taiwan, "March of Happiness," Lin Cheng-sheng, director; Turkey, "Mrs. Salkim's Diamonds," Tomris Gintlioglu, director; United Kingdom (Wales), "Solomon and Gaenor," Paul Morrison, director; Venezuela, "Glue Sniffer," Elia Schneider, director; Vietnam, "Three Seasons," Tony Bui, director; Yugoslavia, "The White Suit," Lazar Ristovski, director.

Good luck to them all.

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