Nine films advance in Oscars shortlist for Best Foreign Film Friday Dec 19,2014

The list of contenders for best foreign film got a bit smaller Friday as the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced the nine features that will advance to the next round of voting

• Ruben Ostlund's patriarchy-skewering avalanche film "Force Majeure" from Sweden
• Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Leviathan," about a property dispute in a small Russian costal town
•  Pawel Pawlikowski's Polish drama "Ida," about a young woman with dreams of being a nun who discovers some dark secrets in her family's past
• Damian Szifron's black ensemble comedy "Wild Tales," from Argentina
• Estonia's "Tangerines," the Golden Globe-nominated film about a man caring for a wounded soldier
• Abderrahmane Sissako's "Timbuktu," the first Mauritanian film ever submitted
• Georgia's "Corn Island," 
• the Netherlands' "Accused," and 
• Venezuela's "The Liberator."

Of the 83 countries who submitted entries, 6 were chosen by a committee of several hundred Academy members based in Los Angeles who were tasked with screening the original submissions.

3 additional features were then added by the Academy's Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee.

The 5 final nominees will be selected from this group of films and announced, along with the other Academy Award nominees, live on Jan. 15,2015

 Winners will be presented at the 87th Academy Awards on Feb. 22,2015