'Waltz with Bashir', Israel's war film that is a combination of animated documentary, audio interviews and animation and a Golden Globe winner, has also been short-listed for Oscar nominations in the foreign-language contest. However, ' Gomorrah ', the Italian entry that won the runner-up Grand Prix at the Cannes film festival in May, failed to make the cut. A hard-hitting film about the Neapolitan Mafia nominated for the Golden Globes, was also Italy 's contender for the Oscars.

But, 'The Class', a film set in a tough Parisian high school and the other Cannes favourite that won the Palme d'Or prize for Best Picture, has made it to the short list of films in the running for the foreign-language Oscar race.

Golden Globe winner - 'Waltz with Bashir', about the 1982 Israeli-Lebanon war was also chosen as Best 2008 Film by U. S.-based National Society of Film Critics. Other foreign-language films short-listed for an Oscar nomination include:
1.    Revanche ( Austria ).
2.    The Necessities of Life ( Canada ).
3.    The Baader Meinhof Complex ( Germany ).
4.    Departures ( Japan ).
5.    Tear This Heart Out ( Mexico ).
6.    Everlasting Moments ( Sweden ).
7.    3 Monkeys ( Turkey ).

With each country allowed to submit only one film, the nine films short-listed for an Oscar nomination have been culled from amongst 65-entries, selected by hundreds of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, including the organisation's Executive Committee. Specially selected committees in New York and Los Angeles will narrow down the list to just five Oscar nominees, to be announced on 22nd January.

Last year, it was 'The Counterfeiters' Austria 's Holocaust-era drama that won the foreign-language Oscar.