Nine films have advanced in the race to the Foreign Language Film Oscar from the 66 that originally qualified. One and a half of them are Canadian.

It’s no surprise that Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies made the short list – it’s been winning everything of late – but Oliver Schmitz’ Life, above All (South Africa) also has strong CanCon roots.

The film, based on the book Chanda’s Secrets by Canadian author Allan Stratton, was written for the screen by fellow Canuck Dennis Foon (pictured). The film was co-produced by Dan Schlanger of Dilemma Productions in Vancouver. (Foon offers a good film biography on his site.)

The finalists will learn next Tuesday, when the nominations for the upcoming Academy Awards are announced, whether their films will be among the final five nominees.

The category is especially strong this year, with stiff competition coming from the Javier Bardem-starring Biutiful from Mexico, Rachid Bouchareb’s Hors la Loi (Outside the Law) from Algeria, Susanne Bier’s In a Better World from Denmark, and Yorgos Lanthimos’ Dogtooth from Greece.

Also contending is Tetsuya Nakashima’s Confessions from Japan, Iciar Bollain’s Tambien la Lluvia (Even The Rain) from Spain and Andreas Ohman’s Simple Simon from Sweden.

With files from Etan Vlessing.