Audiences watch a screening of Go Away Mr Tumor in a theater in Jinan, Shandong province. The romantic comedy is China's official submission for the Oscars instead of Wolf Totem, thought to be in the reckoning for long.

Oscars controversy

While the last-minute change has sparked debate in the country, this is not the first time that a Chinese-language movie has been deemed ineligible by the Academy in the foreign language film category.

In 2007, Oscar-winning auteur Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, which was selected as Taiwan's submission, was not considered as an entry in the category for a similar reason－the crime thriller did not have enough number of locals participating in the production.

In Wolf Totem, though the cast is overwhelmingly Chinese and it is co-produced by the country's industry giant, China Film Group, the animal-themed film has slew of international names on its key creative staff list.

Alongside French director Jean-Jacques Annaud, three of the four scriptwriters are foreign－two French and one British. The movie's music director is American composer James Roy Horner, the cinematography is by French photographer Jean-Marie Dreujou and film editing is done by French Reynald Bertrand. The names in the sound department and visual effects are mainly from the West.

Meanwhile, some industry experts say the Oscar rule is "ambiguous" as there is no stipulation on the ratio of locals to foreigners in a production.

The rule only requires that "the submitting country must certify that creative control of the motion picture was largely in the hands of citizens or residents of that country".

Last year, China's selection for the best foreign language film was Sino-French title The Nightingale by French director Philippe Muyl, making it the first time that a non-Chinese auteur would represent the country at the Oscars. The Academy agreed to the submission but the arthouse film failed to make the cut in the nomination process.

For some domestic critics, last year's selection could explain the reason behind this year's original choice by the country's film selection regulator, which reportedly has a nine-member expert team to select films and make a decision.

Around a month ago, Wolf Totem faced a powerful rival when the makers of this year's Cannes-nominated Mountains May Depart announced that they would apply for the Oscars.

The arthouse drama's director Jia Zhangke is a longtime favorite of the international film circuit. However, the veteran filmmaker soon quit the race after he was told Mountains would not be selected by the country's film authority.

A recent consensus view of domestic media outlets, film critics and online users was that Mountains is more qualified than Go Away Mr Tumor.

Gao Qunshu, a veteran filmmaker calls the change a "humiliation" for the Chinese movie industry on his Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter.

Tan Fei, a veteran film critic and film producer, says Tumor has a very slim chance of getting to the next round in the Oscars best foreign language movie category, which will see nine movies selected from 81 entries. The winner will be selected from five of the nine films.

Two other Chinese-language movies selected for the same race are Hong Kong director Dante Lam's sports game-themed drama To the Fore and Taiwan master auteur Hou Hsiao-hsien's historical epic The Assassin that won Hou the best director award at this year's Cannes festival.

The 2016 Oscar nominations will be announced in January.

The winners will be declared in late February at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood.

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