Oscar invites Azerbaijan to submit movies

For moviemakers outside the United States, an Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can give their films global recognition and help boost ticket sales, making Oscar nominations of major importance, Reuters reports.

The Beverly Hills-based Academy established a foreign language film category in 1956, and since then 102 different countries have participated in the nomination process.

The first Oscar for a foreign film went to Italian movie "La Strada," and the winner at this year's Oscars was South Africa's "Tsotsi," about a young gang member in a tough Johannesburg township.

In June this year, the Academy changed the rules for the nomination process to broaden the group of its members who vote on the films and to include a more diverse set of movies.