The independent expert jury, which was appointed by German Films to select the German entry to compete for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, has under the chairmanship of Steffen Kuchenreuther selected the film PINA by Wim Wenders, making it the first documentary feature to compete for Germany in this category for the coveted prize.
The jury on its decision: “PINA is a cinematic synthesis of the arts, harmoniously combining dance, music and film and thereby going beyond the purely documentary aspect. The film conveys a sensual experience of dance and is an exquisite portrait of one of the greatest German artists.”
Wim Wenders (screenplay, director, producer) and producer Gian-Piero Ringel on the jury’s decision: “After having ventured a lot with PINA and going into new 3D territory, the great success in 
Germany as well as the admissions and reviews in all of Europe are a huge reward. Now being allowed to represent Germany as the submitted candidate for the Oscarsâ is a great honor. With IFC we have a good distributor in the USA and the theatrical release just before Christmas in the USA is optimal timing for an Oscarâ nomination.”
PINA is a production by Neue Road Movies/Berlin, in co-production with Eurowide Film/Paris, ZDF/Mainz, ARTE/Strasbourg, ZDFtheaterkanal/Mainz, 3sat/Mainz, in cooperation with the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, L’Arche Editeur and Pictorion Das Werk. The film was released in German cinemas on 24 February 2011 by NFP marketing & distribution and has since then pulled in over 450,000 admissions. PINA was awarded the German Film Award in the category Best Documentary as well as the German Documentary Film Prize and has been presented worldwide at numerous international film festivals.
US rights have been acquired by IFC Films/New York, which is presenting the film at the most important North American festivals, including Telluride, Toronto and New York. The US theatrical release is planned for December 2011. PINA was funded by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, the German Federal Film Fund, the German Federal Film Board, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and the Centre National Cinematographique (CNC).
On 24 January 2012, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) will announce which five films have been nominated from all of the international entries to go forward in the final lineup to compete for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The official Academy Awards ceremony will take place on 26 February 2012.