2015 Oscars: 14 Latino Films Submitted To Compete For Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award

Source by  By Natalie Roterman

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that 83 countries (14 of which are Latin American) have submitted their films for consideration for the foreign-language film Oscar. The number is record-breaking as the highest had been last year’s list of 76 submissions. First-time submissions by a country include Kosovo, Malta, Mauritania and Panama. Each country was invited to submit one film by October 1, and the films will now be screened for Academy committees. The list will be narrowed down to nine candidates, which will be announced in December. The lucky nine candidates will then compete for a spot in the prestigious five-nominees list. All nominations for the 87th Academy Awards will be revealed at once on January 15, 2015.

See the list of the films here.

MATEO from Colombia Is Looking for Oscar

Source: Cinema Tropical

Mateo, the directorial debut feature film by María Gamboa has been selected as Colombia's Oscar entry for this year. The film follows Mateo, a 16 year-old kid who collects extortion money on behalf of his uncle and uses his pay to help out his mother, who grudgingly accepts the ill-gotten money out of need. They live by themselves in the poor, violent neighbourhoods alongside the Magdalena River valley in Colombia. To prove his worth, Mateo agrees to infiltrate a local theatre group in order to uncover its members’ political activities. As he becomes enthralled with the free-flowing creative lifestyle of the troupe, his uncle escalates demands on him to produce incriminating information on the actors. Under pressure, Mateo must make difficult choices.

Read more.

Alfonso Cuaron: 1st Latino Best Director Oscar winner

Film Director, Alfonso Cuaron is now on top of the Hollywood film world. This past Sunday evening, Cuaron became the first Latino filmmaker to win the Oscar at the 86th Academy Awards for the sci-fi film, Gravity. The prestigious award was also up for grabs by fellow nominees David O. Russell, Alexander Payne, Steve McQueen and Martin Scorsese.

We can expect more Latino filmmakers like Alfonso Cuaron leading us to success in Hollywood.

By Angelo Bolanos

View Alfonso Cuaron's Oscar's speech.
Courtesy of The Telegraph.co.uk