The film is a remake of Sidney Lumet's 1957 "12 Angry Men".
Mikhalkov's version moves the action from the U.S. to Russia, and replaces the original murder suspect with a Chechen teenage boy accused of murdering his foster parent, a Russian officer.
Mikhalkov has already won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film for his film, "Burnt by the Sun," which tells a story of Stalin-era repression. He is presently making a sequel to this film.
In September, "12" was awarded a special Gold Lion in Venice and a Golden Amvrosi at the Milano film festival.
Other foreign films nominated for the final shortlist of five films, to be announced on January 22, are:
Kazakhstan's "Mongol" by Sergei Bodrov
Austria's "The Counterfeiters" by Stefan Ruzowitzky
Brazil's "The Year My Parents Went on Vacation" by Cao Hamburger
Canada's "Days of Darkness" by Denys Arcand
Israel's "Beaufort" by Joseph Cedar
Italy's "The Unknown" by Giuseppe Tornatore
Poland's "Katyn" by Andrzej Wajda
Serbia's "The Trap" by Srdan Golubovic.
The winner in the Best Foreign Film category will be announced at the Oscars ceremony on February 24.
