Foreign films on the horizon in 2012

Every year brings a wealth of wonderful foreign-language offerings to American art houses, and 2012 appears likely to be no different. Following are five films opening next year that promise to be standouts; please note all release dates are subject to change.

Declaration of War: Drawing on the real-life experiences of director Valérie Donzelli and costar/co-writer Jérémie Elkaïm, France’s official entry for the best foreign language feature Oscar follows a couple named Romeo (Elkaïm) and Juliette (Donzelli) who are faced with a host of challenges when they discover their newborn child is gravely ill. Opening Jan. 27

The Forgiveness of Blood: Set in an impoverished Albanian village, this film from director Joshua Marston focuses on a violent feud between two families. Despite the title, there’s not a lot of clemency on the horizon. Cast with local, non-professional actors and written by Marston and Albanian screenwriter Andamion Murataj. Opening Feb. 24

Miss Bala: Director/co-writer Gerardo Naranjo serves up a gripping, violent, at times disturbingly funny drama about a naively aspiring Tijuana beauty queen (Stephanie Sigman) who falls down a rabbit’s hole into the surreal world of drug-related barbarism that has ravaged contemporary Mexico. Opening Jan. 20

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia: In this Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner, Turkish director/co-writer Nuri Bilge Ceylan turns a straightforward police procedural into a haunting road trip through the dreamscape of the Anatolian steppes, where detectives, searching for the body of a murder victim, wander into mysteries both foreboding and transcendent. Opening Jan. 4

The Turin Horse: Billed by Hungary’s world cinema titan Béla Tarr as his final film, this languid black-and-white story takes as its starting point Nietzsche’s supposed encounter with a beaten carriage horse and spins a tale of the world slowly winding down. Opening date not yet set

calendar@latimes.com