Will 'War Witch' and 'Life of Pi' bring Canada Oscars in 2013?

Canada nominees for Best Foreign Language Film
Film	Year**
War Witch	2012
Monsieur Lazhar	2011
Incendies	2010
Water	2006
Barbarian Invasions*	2003
Jesus of Montréal	1989
The Decline of the American Empire	1986
* Oscar winner **Year of the film, not the ceremony.

For the third year in a row, Canada has an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. "Rebelle" ("War Witch") will be alongside "Amour" (Austria), "Kon-Tiki" (Norway), "No" (Chile), and "A Royal Affair" (Denmark). "Amour" is also up for Best Picture.

"War Witch" is the seventh Canadian film to reach the top 5 nominees. "Barbarian Invasions" is still the only Oscar winner, coming in 2004. The film is the second of the three recent nominees to not be primarily in French, one of the two official languages of Canada.

"War Witch" is a well-done and powerful film. Can't speak for the other nominees, though having a contender also up for Best Picture might improve the Canadian film's chances.

"Life of Pi" received 11 nominations for the film based on Canadian Yann Martel's novel. The nods include Toronto composer Mychael Danna for Original Score and a shared nomination with lyricist Bombay Jayashri in the Original Song "Pi's Lullaby." "Life of Pi" is one of 10 entries for Best Picture and Ang Lee is up for Best Director.

"Argo" is up for 7 nominations. The film, based on the CIA agent's account of rescuing the American hostages kept at the Canadian embassy, is up for Best Picture and Alan Arkin for Best Supporting Actor.

Two more Canadian nominees in the live action short category are "Buzkashi Boys" (Ariel Nasr) and "Henry" (Yan England). "Mirror Mirror," shot in Montréal, got a Costume Design nomination for Eiko Ishioka.

The Oscars will air on ABC and CTV on February 24.

Previous coverage:

Canadian films should tell more stories about Canada

Likelihood of seeing the Canadian film class of 2012

Reviewing the WIFF 2012 Canadian films