Los Angeles: Indian film "Newton" is among a list of a record 92 countries which have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 90th Academy Awards, the organisers have announced.
Haiti, Honduras, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria are first-time entrants, a statement on the official website of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said.
"Newton", a Hindi film set against the backdrop of elections in the world's largest democracy, was last month chosen as India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars 2018.
Directed by Amit V. Masurkar and starring Rajkummar Rao, was chosen from among 26 titles from different languages by a 14-member jury appointed by the Film Federation of India (FFI).
It will now compete with high-profile contenders like Angelina Jolie's "First They Killed My Father" from Cambodia, Michael Haneke's "Happy End" from Austria, Sebastian Lelio's "A Fantastic Woman" from Chile, Robin Campillo's "BPM (Beats Per Minute)" from France, Samuel Maoz's "Foxtrot" from Israel, Joachim Trier's "Thelma" from Norway, and Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Loveless" from Russia.
Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on January 23, 2018.
The awards ceremony will be held on March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.