Source: AMPAS

Nine films have been selected from an initial list of 65 eligible movies to proceed onto the shortlist for the Best Foreign Language Film Award at this year’s Oscars. This shortlist consists of six films voted for by several hundred Los Angeles-based AMPAS members, plus three chosen by the Academy’s Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee.

The chosen film are:

El Secreto de Sus Ojus (Argentina, director Juan Jose Campanella)
Samson & Delilah (Australia, director Warwick Thornton)
The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (Bulgaria, director Stephan Komandarev)
A Prophet (France, director Jacques Audiard)
The White Ribbon (Germany, director Michael Haneke)
Ajami (Israel, directors Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani)
Kelin (Kazakhstan, director Ermek Tursunov)
Winter in Wartime (The Netherlands, director Martin Koolhoven)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru, director Claudia Llosa)

This shortlist of nine will be pruned further to five official nominees by specially invited committees in New York and LA, who will watch all nine films from Friday, January 29 to Sunday, January 31 and then cast their ballots.

The nominees, along with those from all the rest of the categories, will be announced on Tuesday February 2, 2010. The ceremony is to be held on Sunday, March 7.