"The Age of Shadows" will represent South Korea at the Academy Awards. The movie directed by Kim Jee-woon is slated to world premiere this week at the Venice Film Festival and later debut in Toronto. It also marks the first Korean production by Warner Bros.

"The Age of Shadows'" pick will likely be the first of many controversial picks by any country. The film upset Park Chan-Wook's "The Handmaiden" which was seen as the frontrunner to be selected and which received raves at the Cannes Film Festival. It was also picked up by Amazon films and is slated to be released in October. Meanwhile "The Age of Shadows" currently has no distributor in the U.S and will debut in Korea at the beginning of September.

South Korea began submitting films in 1962 but has never been nominated for the Oscar. The country has also never made the January shortlist even though it has submitted critical hits from Venice and Cannes. Last year Korea submitted "The Throne" to represent the country. Entering with little buzz, that movie won the 35th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards, including Best Film. However, it did not premiere at any big film festival.

Every year countries around the world submit films to compete in the Foreign Language category. A number of countries have already submitted providing some very strong festival favorites. Among the strong contenders which have already been submitted include festival favorites from Venezuela ("From Afar") and Germany ("Toni Erdmann"). Other countries that have submitted include Australia ("Tanna") and Georgia ("House of Others")

The deadline for the foreign language category is Oct. 3 with the Academy announcing a list of eligible films later that month. On Jan. 17 the Academy will announce the nine finalists from among the eligible films and on Jan. 24 nominations will be announced. The winner will be announced at the Oscar ceremony on Feb. 26, 2017.

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