List of the 9 Foreign Language Film semi-finalists...

71 films originally qualified in the Foreign Language category, and now the semi-finalist list has been whittled down to the final 9 films still in the running. This is one of the categories that I still believe needs a bit of an overhaul to properly establish and represent the best foreign films of each year...but regardless, here is the list of the final 9. From the list, it seems like a 3 way race between Austria, Denmark & France ahead, and "Amour" deservedly way out in front. If one of these 3 films doesn't win I will be EXTREMELY surprised, but from the shortlist I have to assume that "Amour" has this race almost sewn up.

• Austria -- "AMOUR" -- Michael Hanake
• Canada -- "WAR WITCH" --  Kim Nguyen
• Chile -- "NO" -- Pablo Larrain
• Denmark -- "A ROYAL AFFAIR" -- Nikolaj Arcel
• France -- "THE INTOUCHABLES -- Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano
• Iceland -- "THE DEEP" -- Baltasar Kormakur
• Norway -- "KON-TIKI" -- Joachim Ronning & Espen Sandberg
• Romania -- "BEYOND THE HILLS" -- Christian Mungiu
• Switzerland -- "SISTER" -- Ursula Meier