娱乐英语新闻:Chinese Films Snubbed by Oscar

BEIJING, Jan. 22 -- The Oscar race has ended for three Chinese films up for the Best Foreign Film competition, as the Academy announced its nine final nominees on Wednesday.

Together with mainland director Chen Kaige's "Forever Enthralled", Hong Kong's critically acclaimed film "Prince of Tears" and Taiwan's 2009 Golden Horse Film Awards top winner "No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti" have failed to advance to the shortlist of the coveted Best Foreign Film Oscar, making it a seventh year of absence of a Chinese film in the race since Zhang Yimou's "Hero" received a nomination in 2003.

French film "Un Prophete" is shortlisted for Oscar's Best Foreign Film.

Leading the nine favorites is Austrian director Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon", which won the 2010 Golden Globe's Best Foreign Language Picture and the Palme d'Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Other powerful films on the shortlist include French director Jacques Audiard's prison drama "Un Prophete" and Peruvian movie "The Milk of Sorrow", winner of Golden Bear at the 2009 Berlinale.

Famous Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore's Sicilian epic "Baaria" and Israeli film "Lebanon", the top prize winner at last year's Venice Film Festival, have been surprisingly ruled out of the final contention.

A total of 65 films were vying for the Oscar's Best Foreign Film award during the preliminary selection.

Shortlist for Best Foreign Film Oscar

Argentina - "El Secreto de Sus Ojos"

Australia - "Samson & Delilah"

Bulgaria - "The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner"

France - "Un Prophete"

Germany - "The White Ribbon"

Israel - "Ajami"

Kazakhstan - "Kelin"

The Netherlands - "Winter in Wartime"

Peru - "The Milk of Sorrow"