Cantet’s The Class early fav for Foreign Oscar

France has just announced their selection for the Oscar’s Best Foreign picture category and there’s no doubt that the Palme d’or winner will make it from the round of 96 down to the final five list of nominees. Variety reports that Thierry Fremaux, Alain Terzian, Jeanne Moreau, and filmmakers Jean-Jacques Annaud, Costa-Gavras and Regis Wargnier selected Laurent Cantet’s schoolyard/classroom drama to rep La France. Sony Pictures Classics showcases The Class as the opening film of the upcoming New York Film Festival and in select markets starting December 12th. Here are some of the films that have been selected by their respective countries so far…submissions occur Oct. 1st, the nominations will be announced Jan. 22nd.

Austria: Gotz Spielmann’s Revanche  
Belgium: Bouli Lanners’s Eldorado 
Brazil: Bruno Barreto’s Last Stop 174
Canada: Benoit Pilon’s Necessities Of Life (Ce Qu’il Faut Pour Vivre)
Denmark: Niels Arden Oplev’s To verdener (Worlds Apart)  
Finland: Dome Karukoski’s Home of Dark Butterflies
Germany: Uli Edel’s The Baader Meinhof Complex
Hungary: Csaba Bollok’s Iska’s Journey
Japan: Yojiro Takita’s Okuribito (Departures)
Jordan: Amin Matalqa’s Captain Abu Raed
The Netherlands: Dana Nechushtan’s Dunya & Desie
The Philippines: Dante Nico Garcia’s Ploning
Romania: Nae Caranfil’s The Rest Is Silence:
Singapore: Eric Khoo’s My Magic
South Korea: Kim Tae-gyun’s Crossing
Sweden: Jan Troell’s Everlasting Moments  
Taiwan: Wei Te-sheng’s Cape No. 7