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No Live Oscar Ceremony for Russia

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Russia may have its first best foreign-language film nominee in years, but local television viewers again won't get to see the Academy Awards live this year as Channel One said they will only show the ceremony the following evening.

"We will show a 90-minute version," said the channel, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

This means that viewers won't be able to support Andrei Zvyagintsev's "Leviathan" as it vies for victory in the best foreign-language film category. The movie, about a man's fight against a cruel and heartless town mayor, has been showered with awards abroad but at home has been slammed by culture minister Vladimir Medinsky.

The ceremony takes place early?  morning Moscow time but in 2013 it was shown live. Last year the channel said that with the huge number of stories coming out of Ukraine, the channel could not devote five hours to the ceremony.

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