Oscar rules altered for foreign films

A series of changes in the rules governing the way foreign-language films are selected has been approved by governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In one change, entries in the best foreign-language category will no longer have to be in an official language of the country submitting the film. So long as the dominant language is not English, the academy noted, a picture from any country may be in any language or combination of languages.

Bruce Davis, the academy’s executive director, explained that a situation arose last year in which an Italian film was rejected because all the dialogue was in Middle Eastern languages.

“There was no Italian dialogue,” he said. “The rules made clear it had to be in the language of the submitting nation. There was no way they could wiggle out of that. So this year, if the same thing comes up, it won’t be a problem.”

Davis said the issue with the Italians was slightly different than another one that arose in the last Oscars, when the academy refused to accept Austria’s submission, “Cache,” a provocative drama by the respected Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke, because the dialogue was in French.

“What the Austrians wanted to do was submit ‘Cache,’ which was shot in French, with the soundtrack wiped out and replaced with a German track,” Davis said. “That clearly was not permissible under the rules. What they could do this year, with a film in that situation, is to go ahead and submit it in French.”

In a procedural change, the academy also is instituting a two-stage process for determining the nominations in the foreign-language category. The new approach, the academy explained, will allow New York-based members to participate for the first time in selecting the nominations for that category.

Under the new procedure, a committee consisting of several hundred members in L.A. that has viewed the roughly 60 annual submissions will arrive at a nine-country shortlist. Then a second committee, including 10 New York-area members, will view that shortlist and select the five Oscar nominees.

In other actions, the board of governors increased the number of nominated achievements in sound editing from three to five, and in short films, the rules will no long prohibit multiple entries from a producer or producing team.

The rules changes will apply to the 79th Academy Awards, which will be held Feb. 25.