Don't Tell's star Giovanna Mezzogiorno won best actress at Venice

Private was ruled ineligible by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences because the dialogue was not mainly in Italian.

Private, set amidst the Middle East conflict, is in English, Arabic and Hebrew.

Don't Tell examines the trauma of a woman forced to confront her past.

A number of Italian producers and directors voiced discontent with the academy and the language rule, which they claimed was anachronistic, after the rejection of Private.

The Sea Inside with Javier Bardem won last year's foreign film Oscar

In protest, producer Aurelio DeLaurentiis withdrew his film Manuale D'Amore (Manual of Love), tipped as an early favourite, from the competition.

Don't Tell won widespread praise at this year's Venice film festival. Giovanna Mezzogiorno, who plays the lead, won the festival's female Coppa Volpi prize.

The academy invited 91 countries to present films for consideration for the 2006 Oscar for best foreign-language film.

Spanish drama The Sea Inside won the 2005 best foreign film Oscar. The 2006 Oscars will be held on 5 March at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood