French, Austrian films up for foreign Oscar, Asians out

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - French blockbuster Les Intouchables and Austrian Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner Love are frontrunners on a shortlist of nine published Friday for the best foreign language film Oscar.

The list of films still in the running - whittled down from 71 movies in a long-list published in October - also included films from Canada, Chile, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Romania and Switzerland.

Hong Kong movie master Johnnie To and China's Chen Kaige - whose Farewell My Concubine won the top Cannes film festival prize in 1993 - did not make the shortlist cut of foreign movies vying for an Academy Award.

The five finalists will be announced on Jan 10, along with nominations in all other categories for the 85th Academy Awards, the climax of Hollywood's annual prize-giving season, to be held on Feb 24.