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The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has announced its shortlist films from which it will choose a submission to the 85th Academy Awards, organized by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which will take place in February 2013. Submitted from August 13th to 17th, the shortlist submissions include IM Sang-soo’s The Taste of Money, KIM Ki-duk’s Pieta, CHOO Chang-min’s Masquerade, YOON Jong-bin’s Nameless Gangster : Rules of the Time and HONG Sang-soo’s In Another Country.

 

KOFIC stated that since there were only five submissions, they will skip the first round of the usual selection process that narrows down a larger pool to five possible candidates and instead move straight onto the second round, where the quality of the films, the predicted success of the film’s North American release, and the international recognition level of the director and the film are all discussed. The "quality" determination has two components, namely, an assessment by experts from the U.S. (40%) and an assessment from their Korean counterparts (60%).

The final sum of the two selection process will be added up for the final scores. The American selection panel will be made up of three people with expert knowledge of the Oscar selection process and Korean cinema and the selection will begin on September 1st, lasting for four days. The main part of the selection process in Korea will be based on regulations set by KOFIC and the panel will be comprised of five people with expert knowledge of Korean cinema who have no direct connection to the submissions.

 

The submission criteria for the Academy Awards Foreign Language Film section states that the films have to have been released in Korea between October 1st 2011 and September 30th 2012 with at least seven consecutive days of screening at a commercial theater. The films also must have been screened at least three times in one day and have charged admission fees. Past Oscar submissions from Korea include Mother (2009), A Barefoot Dream (2010) and The Front Line (2011), but none have been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.