Oscars: New record in foreign language category

A record number of countries have submitted films for consideration in this year’s foreign-language Academy Awards race, organizers say.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Thursday that 92 countries submitted their entries into the foreign-language category of the 90th Oscars race in 2018.

The number marks a new milestone and record for the category.

Among the first-time entrants include Haiti, Honduras, Mozambique, Senegal, and Syria.

Iran has selected the drama ‘Breath’ by female director Narges Abyar as the country’s official submission in the next race.

Iranian movie ‘The Salesman’ directed by Asghar Farhadi won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards.

However, the director refused to attend the ceremony in protest to Donald Trump’s travel ban on a number of predominantly-Muslim countries. In his stead, Iranian-American engineer Anousheh Ansari accepted the honor.

AI/AI