> > But what I really don't understand is why this genre has it's own category. It's like saying an animated movie (or a non-English movie) cannot be the best movie of the year, solely because the movie features animation.
>
> One could argue that the same holds for documentaries and foreign films. Can't a documentary or a foreign film be the best film of the year?

Exactly why I mentioned "or a non-English movie" up there.

> The thing is, these films, along with animated films, *are* eligible for Best Picture. The separate categories are there to recognize films that are frequently otherwise ignored. But even so, Crouching Tiger came pretty close to winning Best Picture *in addition* to Best Foreign Language Film.

Of course they are. But if there's a category for a film, how many voters thought that should be the place for the film? In other words, is it possible that some voters thought CTHD already was the best Foreign Feature Film; it's got it's award. Why is it taking up space in the Best Picture category?

-FP