The 80th Academy Awards® nominees for best foreign language film of the year. From left to right: Sergei Bodrov, director of "Mongol" (Kazakhstan), Joseph Cedar, director of "Beaufort" (Israel), Stefan Ruzowitzky, director of "The Counterfeiters" (Austria) and Nikita Mikhalkov, director of "12" (Russia). Not Pictured Andrzej Wajda, director of "Katyn" (Poland).

What began as a small, intimate gathering of directors representing their nominated films in the Foreign Language Film category has turned into an annual standing-room-only event that is as entertaining as it is informative. Each year the Academy invites the directors of the nominated films to appear onstage to discuss their films and respond to questions from the audience.

The 2007 symposium, as in the past, took place the day before the Academy Awards® presentation. Moderated by Mark Johnson, the Oscar®-winning producer of Rain Man, The Notebook and The Chronicles of Narnia, it brought together some of the world’s top filmmakers to address such wide-ranging topics as art, politics and moviemaking. The approximately two-hour event also featured brief clips from the nominated films.

Foreign Language Film Award Nominees

Austria, The Counterfeiters, Stefan Ruzowitzky, director
Israel, Beaufort, Joseph Cedar, director
Kazakhstan, Mongol, Sergei Bodrov, director
Poland, Katyń, Andrzej Wajda, director
Russia, 12, Nikita Mikhalkov, director