The foreign film competition has begun to shake up as Germany, Croatia and Kazakhstan have announced their selections to compete for the Oscar.

With seven countries already having submitted their films, the Germans offered up one of the most unexpected submissions. The country submitted "Labyrinth of Lies," a film that premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year and which received rave reviews.

However, the film competed with seven other films including "Victoria," which not only won the German Film Awards (The German Oscars) and was among the most revered films of the year. The movie about a Spanish girl who meets a group a German guys on one night and turns into a bank robber was thought to be the front runner to be submitted for the Oscars because it had U.S. distribution and premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear. "Victoria" was also respected for having been shot in one take and for having presented Germany in a contemporary setting.

The film only had one shortcoming and that was that 49 percent of the film contained English dialogue, something that the Academy disqualifies at times. When it was submitted in the shortlist, the Germans already had a lot of reservations for it.

As a result, "Labyrinth of Lies" was the second best option given its World War II subject matter and the fact that it will be released by Sony Picture Classics in September. Sony is known for picking up Best Foreign Language Film nominations and also builds strong marketing campaigns for these films. Additionally, "Labyrinth of Lies" will be able to compete for other awards since it is being released this year.

Germany has not been nominated since 2009 when Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon" lost to "The Secret in their Eyes." The last film to win was in 2006 when "The Lives of Others" surprised.

Meanwhile Croatia chose "The High Sun" to represent the country at the Academy Awards. The film was a favorite at the Cannes Film Festival where it premiered at the Un Certain Regard slate and won the Jury Prize. This was the first film by the country to show at Cannes since 1991 and represents the country's best chance at an Oscar.

Having premiered at Cannes is always a good sign given the fact that most films nominated in the foreign film category premiere at festivals like Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Tribeca or Venice. Since Croatia has never been nominated at the Oscars, "The High Sun" could make history for the country.

Kazakhstan chose "Stranger" to represent it. The film has yet to have its world premiere but the movie is showing at the Toronto Film Festival, where it could easily get a lot of exposure. Kazakhstan was already nominated in 2007 for the film "Mongol" and it will be interesting to see how this new film performs.

The race is shaping up to competitive but to this point it seems Hungary has the strongest contender in "Son of Saul." The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it won Universal acclaim and won the Grand Jury Prize. How well it holds up will depend on the rest of the competition.

Other films that have been submitted include Romania's "Aferim!" and Luxembourg's "Baby (a)lone."

The Academy Award nominations will be announced Jan. 14 and the final day for the foreign countries to submit is Oct. 1.

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