Xavier Dolan 1 step closer to Oscar nomination for best foreign film

Montreal filmmaker Xavier Dolan has advanced in the race for best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards.

His film It's Only the End of the Worldis one of nine features that will advance to the next round of voting.

While Dolan said he's "happy and quite moved" by the recognition, he also wishes more people could see the film, which was released in Canada in the fall.

"I'm not thinking of this in terms of what this could bring to my career, I'm thinking of this in terms of what could it bring to this film in terms of exposure," Dolan told Canadian reporters during a conference call on Friday.

"This film was not bought probably won't be, I think and that's been a disappointment, because when you make a film you don't make it for a club, you make it for everyone.... So if this is a way for people to know this film exists outside of the usual ways we can have with a distributor or let's say a more traditional way of releasing this film if this can help that and give us some visibility that's amazing because the goal is to get people to see the film and get their reaction."

The Academy revealedthe nine films in competition in a news release Thursday night.

When the voting started, 85 films were considered.

A committee of several hundred Academy members will view each film next month and pare the list down to five nominees for the category.Contenders in all categories will be revealed on Jan. 24.

This year's Oscars, the 89th edition, will be held in Hollywood on Feb. 26.

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