Nine foreign-language features are on the short list for the 88th Academy Awards. The list will be pruned down to five nominees by three committees (based in New York, Los Angeles and London) after they watch the film between Friday, 1.8 and Sunday, 1.10, and then decide which four to cut. The Big Nine: The Brand New Testament (Belgium), d: Jaco Van Dormael; Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia), d: Ciro Guerra; A War (Denmark), d: Tobias Lindholm; The Fencer (Finland), d: Klaus Haäro; Mustang (France), d: Deniz Gamze Erguven; Labyrinth of Lies (Germany), d: Giulio Ricciarelli; Son of Saul (Hungary), d: Laszlo Nemes; Viva (Ireland), d: Paddy Breathnach; Theeb (Jordan), d: Naji Abu Nowar.
