With its combination of topic (one man's journey through a Nazi concentration camp), awards credentials (Grand Jury Prize in Cannes and multiple film critics association honors) and groundbreaking style (the film is shot entirely from the subjective viewpoint of its protagonist), Son of Saul from first-time filmmaker Laszlo Nemes is the movie to beat in the 2016 foreign-language race.
This Amazonian drama, one of only two non-European films on the Oscar long list, is arguably the most exotic in the foreign-language race. The black-and-white drama tells two stories, set in 1909 and 1940, tracing the life of Karamakate, a shaman and last survivor of his tribe, and his encounters with two scientists searching for the sacred yakruna plant.
Denmark's entry stands out among the historic dramas crowding the foreign-language race with a ripped-from-the-headlines tales of a Danish commander in Afghanistan (played by Pilou Asbaek), who makes a war-zone decision that wreaks havoc on his personal life when he returns home.
Ireland's entry is a touching coming-of-age tale set in Cuba. The film focuses on Jesus, an 18-year-old hairdresser in Havana who is drawn to the seedy glamor of the local drag-queen scene.
Germany hasn't won an Oscar since The Lives of Others in 2006 but Giulio Ricciarelli's drama could win over fans of serious historic drama. A twist on that Oscar standby, the German Holocaust film, Labyrinth of Lies looks at a forgotten piece of history: the attempt by German prosecutors in the 1950s to expose, and punish, some 8,000 people that worked at Auschwitz.
Klaus Haro's inspirational, and true, story follows a man who flees the Soviet secret police in Leningrad and lands in Estonia, finding his calling teaching fencing to school kids. Overlooked on the festival circuit, The Fencer has generated strong word-of-mouth awards buzz, picking up a Golden Globe nomination before getting picked for the foreign-language long list.
The dark horse candidate in the race, France's entry is set in Turkey and follows five independent-minded sisters who fights against a traditional, repressive, society that wants to tame them into traditional female roles. Mustang has been building strong word of mouth and awards cred since its debut in Cannes, where it won the Label Europa Cinema honor.
The only African feature in the running this year, Theeb, which won the best director honor for Naji Abu Nowar at Venice last year, has drawn comparisons with Lawrence of Arabia. Shot in the vast sandstone valley of Wadi Rum, the drama is set in 1916 and tells the story of a young Bedouin boy struggling for survival in the midst of WWI as Ottoman forces fight to keep a grip on a crumbling empire.
Jaco Van Dormael's latest drama, which imagines God as a cranky retiree living in Brussels, is wacky, sacrilegious and very, very funny. It will rely on Dormael's name (the director of Toto the Hero and The Eighth Day) and the subject matter, as well as a performance by Catherine Deneuve, as a female Apostle who chooses a loving gorilla over her husband, to attract Academy attention.