Iranian award winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadis French-language drama The Past (Le Passé) has been left out of the 2014 Oscar nominee shortlist.
The nominee shortlist for the best foreign language movies of the 86th edition of Academy Awards was released as astonished many cineastes in the world.
While the unveiled names in the list were out of the expectations of many critics, Farhadis Paris-set tale film The Past along with some other remarkable movies was not included in the list.
The film did not enter this years shortlist, despite forecasts that it would be among the leading nominees names.
Farhadis smash-hit drama was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film section at the 2014 Golden Globe Awards.
The immigrant romantic drama that was shot in Paris has received numerous international awards so far.
The Hunt by Dane Thomas Vinterberg, The Grandmasterfrom Hong Kongs Wong Kar-wai and The Great Beauty by Italian Paolo Sorrentino, The Missing Picture, from Cambodia, by director Rithy Panh and Two Lives, from Germany, directed by Georg Maas are some of the nominations.
The Broken Circle Breakdown, a Belgian film directed by Felix van Groeningen; An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker from Bosnia and Herzegovina, directed by Danis Tanovic; and The Notebook from Hungary, directed by Janos Szasz could also be among the frontrunners.
The most surprising absentees from Fridays announcement are Chiles Gloria (Sebastián Lelio, director); Irans The Past(Asghar Farhadi, director); Polands Walesa. Man of Hope(Andrzej Wajda, director); and Saudi Arabias Wadjda(Haifaa Al Mansour, director)," Variety reported.
The nominations were made by the foreign-language committee, who screened the 76 submitted films.
The Academy allows each country to select its own submission. The requirements say that a film must begin a one-week continuous engagement in its country of origin from October 1, 2012 through September 30, 2013. The language of the film must be predominantly non-English.
The shortlisted films will be reduced to five nominees next month, before nods in all Oscar categories are announced on January 16.
The 86th Academy Awards is scheduled to be held on March 2, 2014.