Video | 2014 Oscars' Best Foreign Language Film shortlists Wong Kar-wai's Grandmaster
Wong Kar-wai's film about martial arts has made the shortlist for Oscar for best foreign language film
Oscars organisers shortlisted nine movies on Friday for best foreign language prize, including Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's film about martial arts, the Grandmaster.
Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's “Back to 1942” was not on the shortlist.
Films left out included Saudi Arabia's first-ever candidate and Pakistan's first entry in five decades, while an Oscar-winning Iranian director also failed to make the cut.
Films by Belgian, Bosnian, Cambodian, German, Hungarian and Italian directors are on the shortlist, which did not include any women filmmakers.
"The Hunt" by Dane Thomas Vinterberg, "The Grandmaster" from Hong Kong's Wong Kar-wai and "The Great Beauty" by Italian Paolo Sorrentino could be among the frontrunners.
But Iranian entry "The Past" - by director Asghar Farhadi, who won the best foreign film Oscar in 2012 for "A Separation" - was not on Friday's list, despite forecasts that it would be among the leading nominees.
The films were whittled down from a long list of 76 movies announced in October by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which organizes Hollywood's biggest annual awards fest.
They will be reduced to five nominees next month, before nods in all Oscar categories are announced on January 16. The 86th Academy Awards will be held on March 2.
