A RECORD 63 countries have entered the race for Oscars glory in next year’s Best Foreign Language Film category, officials said Wednesday.

Academy Awards organizers announced the list of entries for the coveted prize roughly three months ahead of the formal announcement of nominations for other main categories at next year’s 80th Oscars.

The 63 entries will eventually be whittled down to five nominees who will all jostle for the most famous statuette in show business at the 2008 Academy Awards, which take place in Hollywood on Feb. 24.

The two debutants in the competition are entries from Azerbaijan and Ireland, the Academy said in a statement.

Romania’s entry, “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” is likely to be one of the early front-runners in the Oscar race.

Filmmaker Cristian Mungiu scooped the prestigious Palme D’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for his film, a wrenching story about a girl’s back-alley abortion in Romania.

Several directors who have already scored Oscar wins in the category are among the contenders. They include Italy’s Giuseppe Tornatore, whose beloved “Cinema Paradiso” triumphed in 1990. Tornatore is entered for “The Unknown.”

Three Chinese entries representing Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland respectively are Johnnie To’s “Exiled,” Ang Lee’s “Lust, Caution” and Yin Li’s “The Knot.”

(SD-Agencies)