Press Release: Nine Foreign Language Films Seeking 2006 Oscar®

January 16, 2007

Nine Foreign Language Films Seeking 2006 Oscar®
Beverly Hills, CA — Nine films will advance in the voting process in the Foreign Language Film category for the 79th Academy Awards®. Sixty-one films had originally qualified in the category.

The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Algeria, “Days of Glory,” Rachid Bouchareb, director
Canada, “Water,” Deepa
Mehta, director
Denmark, “After the Wedding,” Susanne Bier, director
France, “Avenue Montaigne,” Daniele Thompson, director
Germany, “The
Lives of Others,” Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, director
Mexico, “Pan’s
Labyrinth,” Guillermo del Toro, director
The Netherlands, “Black Book,” Paul
Verhoeven, director
Spain, “Volver,” Pedro Almodovar, director
Switzerland, “Vitus,” Fredi M. Murer, director

Foreign Language Film nominations for 2006 are being determined in two phases.

The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 61 eligible films and their ballots determined the shortlist.

A Phase II committee, made up of ten randomly selected members from the Phase I group, joined by additional ten-member contingents in New York and Los Angeles, will view the shortlisted films and select the five 2006 nominees for the category.

Phase II screenings will take place from Friday, January 19, through Sunday, January 21, in both Hollywood and New York City.

Nominations for the 79th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2007, at 5:30 a.m. PST in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2006 will be presented on Sunday, February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network at 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST), beginning with a half-hour arrivals segment, “The Road to the Oscars®.”