CM
Los Angeles
Academy Awards officials have disqualified Afghan foreign language entry Utopia after ruling the film contains too much english dialogue.
The war drama was filmed partially in both English and Dari, and bosses at the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), found Utopia failed to meet the criteria which states entries should have a “predominantly non-English dialogue track.”
Utopia stars British singer/actress Hannah Spearritt as a woman from Afghanistan who travels to the UK for artificial insemination while her soldier husband fights on the front line. The movie’s disqualification narrows the shortlist for the foreign language film category from 81 to 80.
Utopia would have been Afghanistan’s tenth submission in the category since 2002, but a film from the country has yet to be nominated for an Oscar.