Los Angeles  - Nine films have advanced to the next round of voting in the foreign language film category for Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday.

The list includes the recent Golden Globe winner for foreign language film, the acclaimed Israeli animated documentary Waltz with Bashir, about the country's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, as well as the German film the Baader Meinhof Complex, a unique look into that country's notorious terrorist group, the Red Army Faction.

The other seven films are Revanche (Austria), The Necessities of Life (Canada), The Class (France), Departures (Japan), Tear This Heart Out (Mexico), Everlasting Moments (Sweden) and 3 Monkeys (Turkey).

The films were chosen by a committee of several hundred Academy members and will be whittled down to five 2008 nominees by specially selected committees in New York and Los Angeles. The committee members will spend this Friday, Saturday and Sunday viewing three of the films each day before the nominations are announced on January 22.

The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on February 22, 2009. (dpa)