Oscars will recognize 'Palestine'

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences apparently will treat "Palestine" as a country in the Oscar competition next year.

Poster for Palestinian film "Divine Intervention"

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Last year, the Palestinian film "Divine Intervention" was denied entry because the academy said it did not recognize "Palestine" as a country.

This time, however, the film will be included among the "record 55 countries in competition," compared to 54 last year, the Associated Press reported.

"This year the committee decided to treat Palestine as an exception in the same way we treat Hong Kong as an exception," academy spokesman John Pavlik said, according to the AP. "It's always the goal of the foreign-language film award executive committee to be as inclusive as possible. And they always bend over backward to do so."

He insisted the inclusion is not a political statement.

"We're not trying to be the U.N. and say that Palestine is a country," Pavlik said, the AP reported. "We're saying that there's a film industry that considers itself Palestinian, and it has come up with a film worthy of submission."

Another reason "Divine Intervention" was rejected last year was because it was not submitted by a legitimate Palestinian-based selection committee, the academy said, according to the AP.

The film, directed by Elia Suleiman, won a jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year.

The 76th Academy Awards ceremony will be held Feb. 29.