Jacek Borcuch's All that I Love, Poland's candidate for this year's Academy Awards, has failed to make the final round in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

The Academy announced yesterday that the 66 submissions from around the globe have been whittled down to 9. An intensive round of screenings will now be made for Academy members, after which the list will be shortened to five in time for the official nominations on 25 January.

All that I Love is set in Gdansk during the Solidarity era. The plot is a loose reworking of the Romeo and Juliet model. Janek, an aspiring punk yet the son of a policeman, falls for Basia, the daughter of a Solidarity activist.

All that I Love was the second Polish film of the year to focus on how Rock music became an expression of anti-communist sentiment. It complemented Wojtek Slota and  Leszek Gnoinski's documentary Beats of Freedom. Both films enjoyed considerable popularity in Poland.

Poland was last nominated in the foreign language category in 2008, with Andrzej Wajda's Katyn. Wajda himself won the Honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2000. Other Polish winners include Roman Polanski, cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek.

The contenders in the foreign language category for this year's awards are: Outside The Law (Algeria), Incendies (Canada), In a Better World (Denmark), Dogtooth (Greece), Confessions  (Japan), Biutiful  (Mexico) Life, Above All (South Africa), Even The Rain (Spain), Simple Simon (Sweden). (nh)