In another move due to complications caused by the coronavirus pandemic, sources tell Deadline that there are some key changes to the process of shortlisting potential nominees for the International Feature Film category (formerly Best Foreign Language Film).
Instead of the main committee of volunteers from all branches of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences choosing their seven top picks, with the much smaller International Film Executive Committee then adding three more titles — thus creating a shortlist of 10 films to later be pared to the actual five nominees in the category — the main committee will now be doing all the work in phase one of the voting for the year, with an expanded lineup of their top 15 choices ostensibly designed to make up the difference in the elimination of the exec committees “saves,” as they have come to be known.
This is a return closer to the way nominees were chosen in the past before controversy over omissions of some major worldwide hits such as 2002’s City of God, and Romania’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days among others, created credibility problems for AMPAS and forced the change to allowing the Academy’s Exec Committee to make sure the best of world cinema was not overlooked by the larger committee. The Academy doesn’t reveal what its three “saves” are and mixes them in with the rest — but now for this year at least it is a moot point.
Source: https://deadline.com/2021/01/oscars-international-film-rules-changes-shortlist-saves-1234675094/