Newton, starring Rajkummar Rao and directed by Amit Masurkar, which was selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars, is officially out of the race. The story of a government employee in a conflict-ridden part of the country failed to make it to the top nine for the best foreign language film award.
According to Variety, the films that have made it to the semi-final nominations are: Chile’s A Fantastic Woman, Germany’s In the Fade, Hungary’s On Body and Soul, Israel’s Foxtrot, Lebanon’s The Insult, Russia’s Loveless, Senegal’s Félicité, South Africa’s The Wound, and Sweden’s The Square.
Recommended
Newton premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February this year, and there, it won the CICAE (International Confederation of Art Cinemas) award for best film in the Forum segment. It also won the Jury Award for Young Cinema at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in April, and was nominated for a Jury Award at the Tribeca Film Festival for Best International Narrative Feature.
The foreign committee will now select five films from the list. They will be revealed alongside all other Oscar nominations January 23, 2018.