India's official entry 'Court' drops out of 2016 Oscar race

India's official entry for the Oscars 2016, Marathi film Court has fallen out of the race after the first phase of voting.

Court -- which is in English, Marathi, Hindi, and Gujarati -- has won 18 international awards, including the Lion of the Future Award for the best first feature at the Italian fest since its premiere at the prestigious Venice Film Festival last September. It is also the winner of National Award for this year.

The list has been narrowed down from 80 eligible movies to 9 to move to the next phase of voting for the 88th Academy Awards.

Here are the nine shortlisted movies - 

The Brand New Testament - Belgium
Embrace of the Serpent - Colombia
A War - Denmark
The Fencer - Finland
Mustang - France
Labyrinth of Lies - Germany
Son of Saul - Hungary
Viva - Ireland
Theeb - Jordan

Final five are decided in two phases, reports Variety. The phase one committee, made up of several hundred Los Angeles-based Academy members, screen submissions between mid-October and Dec. 14. The shortlist consists of this group’s six choices with three additional selections voted by the Academy’s foreign-language executive committee.

The nominations will be announced on January 14.