Mexico has chosen "Heli" as the country's foreign film submission for the Academy Awards.
After having a 16-movie shortlist the country decided on the Cannes winner on Wednesday. The film opened at the Cannes Film Festival in May and proved divisive for its portrayal of drug violence.
Director Amat Escalante immediately reacted to the news and told Variety, "The film is a fiction. It's about characters, a family that is destroyed by the violence and attempts to rebuild. Mexico's drug wars is just the context."
"Heli" is set in a Mexican cartel and tells the story of a love between a young girl and a policeman.
The film beat out Eugenio Derbez's "Instructions Not Included," which the Mexican audience was rooting for and which became one of the most successful foreign films to ever be released in the U.S. Additionally, it was heavily believed that Derbez's popularity and celebrity in Mexico would help the film's chances at being the Academy submission. However, Mexico followed its current trend of picking socially relevant films.
Other films that missed the cut included "Cinco de Mayo," "La Vida Precoz y Breve" de Sabina Rivas," "La Jaula de Oro" and "El Premio."
Mexico has been nominated eight times at the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film. The most recent films include Alejandor Gonzalez Inarritu's "Biutiful," Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrith," Inarritu's "Amores Perros" and Carlos Carrera's "El Crimen del Padre Amaro."
Escalante has previously directed the award winning "Sangre," as well as "Los Bastardos."
"Heli" is set to compete against 70 plus countries for a spot in the top five shortlist. The nominations will be handed out on Jan. 10 with the ceremony held in February.
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