Holding Thumbs

The race heats up! While magazines like The Hollywood Reporter get excited about films such as Biutiful (starring Xavier Bardem) and In A Better World (the Golden-Globe-winning Danish flick) making it to the shortlist of movies vying for a spot in the Foreign Language category, we are thrilled that South Africa’s official submission Life, Above All has also snagged a spot.

That’s no mean feat when you consider that sixty-six films from around the world were submitted. This weekend, two panels – one in Los Angeles, the other in New York – will sit down to watch the films and whittle down the 9 to 5. We’ll be holding thumbs!

Here is the complete batch of films making the shortlist:

• lgeria, Hors la Loi (“Outside the Law”), Rachid Bouchareb, director
• Canada, Incendies, Denis Villeneuve, director
• Denmark, In a Better World, Susanne Bier, director
• Greece, Dogtooth, Yorgos Lanthimos, director
• Japan, Confessions, Tetsuya Nakashima, director
• Mexico, Biutiful, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, director
• South Africa, Life, above All, Oliver Schmitz, director
• Spain, Tambien la Lluvia (“Even the Rain”), Iciar Bollain, director
• Sweden, Simple Simon, Andreas Ohman, director

The Oscar nominations will be announced on Tuesday January 25th.

Life, Above All releases in South Africa on 11 March 2011.

Read more about the film here.