We're so glad to see a film that was one of our twenty-six 2012 black film highlights (read that post HERE if you missed it yesterday), make the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar shortlist of nine.

I'm referring to Kim Nguyen's harrowing yet hypnotic Congo-set drama War Witch or Rebelle. Several of us loved it, and its star, Rachel Mwanza, captivates.

A film that didn't quite make our highlight short list, but gets an honorable mention, The Intouchables, also made the Oscar short list. Kudos to Omar Sy, who is also in the running for the Best Actor Oscar, according to some *experts* anyway.

But the fight is not over; these 9 films advance to the next round of voting, and will be winnowed down to the five nominees.

The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The 9 films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:

Austria, “Amour,” Michael Haneke, director;

Canada, “War Witch,” Kim Nguyen, director;

Chile, “No,” Pablo Larraín, director;

Denmark, “A Royal Affair,” Nikolaj Arcel, director;

France, “The Intouchables,” Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors;

Iceland, “The Deep,” Baltasar Kormákur, director;

Norway, “Kon-Tiki,” Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors;

Romania, “Beyond the Hills,” Cristian Mungiu, director;

Switzerland, “Sister,” Ursula Meier, director.