Nine films compete for foreign Oscar

What film will win the foreign Oscar? One of these nine will for sure...

The list of films competing for the Oscar for best foreign feature is shrinking, but nine films are still in the race for a spot among the final five nominees. Among those moving to the next round is "The White Ribbon," which won a Golden Globe.

"Ribbon" also took the Palme d'Or in Cannes, which explains why it's a hot contender for a nomination and maybe even the foreign language Oscar. Also still in the race is Jacques Audiard's highly acclaimed drama "Un Prophète," from France.

Also part of the nine films are Juan Jose Campanella's "El Secreto de Sus Ojos" from Argentina, Warwick Thornton's "Samson & Delilah" from Australia, and Stephan Komandarev's "The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner" from Bulgaria.

And finally, these are still in the race as well: Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani's "Ajami," Israel; Ermek Tursunov's "Kelin," Kazakhstan; Martin Koolhoven's "Winter in Wartime," the Netherlands; and Claudia Llosa's "The Milk of Sorrow," Peru.

Eventually, only five films will move on to the final round, which will be revealed Feb. 2, 2010 during the Academy Award nominations. I heard a lot of good things about some of these films, and sadly, I haven't seen any of them yet.