Mauritanian film shortlisted for foreign language Oscar

Six European, two Latin American and one African film have made the shortlist for the foreign language Oscar, announced in Los Angeles Friday.

Films by directors from Argentina, Estonia, Georgia, Mauritania, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Venezuela made the shortlist, which will be narrowed down to five nominees next month ahead of the February show.

Movies from Europe the former Soviet states are well represented, with films from Russia, Poland, Georgia and Estonia among the nine.

The list will be narrowed down to five nominees to be announced on January 15, along with all other nomination categories for the Academy Awards, which will held on February 22.

The shortlisted films are:

Argentina, "Wild Tales," by Damian Szifron.

Estonia, "Tangerines," by Zaza Urushadze.

Georgia, "Corn Island," by George Ovashvili.

Mauritania, "Timbuktu," by Abderrahmane Sissako.

Netherlands, "Accused," by Paula van der Oest.

Poland, "Ida," by Pawel Pawlikowski.

Russia, "Leviathan," by Andrey Zvyagintsev.

Sweden, "Force Majeure," by Ruben Östlund.

Venezuela, "The Liberator," by Alberto Arvelo.

The foreign language Oscar has a long history of choosing European films as winners, with three quarters of the winners from the last 20 years coming from the old continent.