Oscar bound?

Andrzej Wajda's latest movie, Katyń, which tells the story of the 1940 Katyń massacre of more than 15,000 Polish soldiers and civilians, has been chosen as Poland's entry for the Academy Awards' Best Foreign Language Film award. A professional jury headed by director Janusz Majewski chose Wajda's movie from among 15 contenders for the prestigious nomination.

"In choosing the Polish submission for the nomination we took into consideration the value of the film itself, but also the fact that Andrzej Wajda is a world-famous and respected director who has already won an honorary Oscar," explained Agnieszka Odorowicz, head of the Polish Film Institute.

According to the rules of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, five non-English-language films are short-listed for the prestigious award after a strict two-phase screening procedure. The final nominees will be announced on January 22. The official Oscar ceremony will take place a month later, on February 24.

Katyń has been warmly received by audiences, the media and movie critics. The film, which presents the event from the women's points of view, was watched by 269,091 film-goers during its opening weekend - the best opening for a Polish film this year.

"I see Katyń as a film dedicated to the families that have been set apart forever. It is a movie about individual pain, which is more gripping than historical fact," said Andrzej Wajda.

The producers of the film have announced that there is a possibility for distribution in Russia. In addition, global film distributors such as the Weinstein Company, Miramax and Universal Pictures have also expressed an interest in distributing Katyń.

Katyń is now showing in cinemas nationwide