The Oscars celebrate ignorance, mediocrity and genuine quality in about equal measure.Commercial success and "epic sweep" are too influential in the voting.The various film critics' and  major international festival awards are better indicators for genuine lovers of world cinema.One limitation that certainly adversely affects the Foreign Language Film category is that nominations are restricted to only one per country, and many fine international co-productions are left out.Many of the greatest world Cinema films have been completely omitted, in favour of pleasant but hardly earth-shattering fare.Lists such as the AFI 100 have been too much influenced by the Oscars.The Academy Awards are perhaps not a complete sham, but they should be taken with a very heavy pinch of salt and should carry no more value than the various other awards in a range of countries.