LOS ANGELES : And the Winner Is . . .

The 67th annual Academy Awards will highlight some of the stiffest competition in years for the Best Picture Oscar. The Oscars will be presented Monday at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and telecast around the world.

Nominees for Best Picture are “Forrest Gump,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Quiz Show,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”

Nominated for best foreign film are Cuba’s “Strawberry and Chocolate,” Macedonia’s “Before the Rain,” “Belgium’s “Farinelli: Il Castrato,” Taiwan’s “Eat, Drink, Man, Woman” and Russia’s “Burnt by the Sun.”

Most winners are chosen by balloting of all 4,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Last year’s winner for Best Picture was “Schindler’s List.”