White Sun, Nepal’s official entry for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film award at the Academy Awards, is out of the race after failing to make the nine-film shortlist for the final awards show. 

The Academy unveiled over the weekend a list of nine films that will advance to the next round for the category—A Fantastic Woman (Chile); In the Fade (Germany); On Body and Soul (Hungary); Foxtrot (Israel); The Insult (Lebanon); Loveless (Russia); Felicite (Senegal); The Wound (South Africa); and The Square (Sweden). 

The selected films were picked out from a list of a record 92 films that were chosen for the preliminary round. The top five out of them will be selected by a ballot to be cast by the Academy’s committees based in New York, London and Los Angeles. 

The only Nepali film to make it to the final five is the 1999 adventure-drama Caravan—helmed by French director Eric Valli—which told the story of the rivalry between two yak caravan leaders. 

Following the elimination, Deepak Rauniyar, the film’s director, tweeted, “It saddens me to share that #WhiteSun didn’t make it to the #Oscar shortlist! But we remain motivated as it is a film loved and appreciated by many. Thank you to our producers, publicists, crew & cast, and all of you who believed in us and showed love and support.” 

After winning widespread acclaim in the international film festival circuit, White Sun is currently having its second round of screening in theatres in Nepal. 

The 90th iteration of Oscars is slated to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood & Highland Center on March 4.