Karen Shakhnazarov’s World War II-set fantasy action selected by Russian Oscar committee.

White Tiger (Belyy Tigr), Karen Shakhnazarov’s World War II-set fantasy action about a sergeant who becomes obsessed with destroying a tank that almost killed him, has been selected as Russia’s official entry for consideration in the Academy Awards’ Best Foreign Language Film category.

Shakhnazarov’s film, which was released in Russia in May and grossed over $3m, was picked by the committee headed up by Vladimir Menshov and was adapted by the director and Aleksandr Borodyanskiy from Ilya Boyashov’s novel Tankist, Ili Belyy Tigr.

The nominations for the 2013 Academy Awards will be revealed on Jan 10.