Amat Excalante's Heli
A BAFTA selection committee has submitted Philippines-set crime thriller Metro Manila as its choice consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar category, while Cannes competition feature Heli was named by Mexico as its choice, Screen Daily and Variety report, respectively.
Directed by British filmmaker Sean Ellis, crime drama Metro Manila follows Oscar Ramirez and his family, who flee their impoverished lives in the rice files of northern Philippines for the capital, Manila, but the capital's heat and pace overwhelms them. They fall prey to hardened locals, but Oscar catches a break when he's offered steady work for an armored truck company and a gregarious officer takes him under his wing. But reality again sets in and Oscar confronts the dangers of his new job and life.
Amat Escalante's Heli is a Mexican cartel drama about the budding love between a young girl and a policeman. The film, which won Escalante the director prize in Cannes, shocked some at the festival because of its raw portrayal of violence.
Nominations for the 2014 Academy Awards will take place January 16 and the 86th Oscars are set for March 2.
Current submissions for Best Foreign Language Oscar consideration follow:
Bad Destiny, Draško Đurović (Montenegro)
Blind Spot, Christophe Wagner (Luxembourg)
Borgman, Alex van Warmerdam (The Netherlands)
Boy Eating The Bird’s Food, Ektoras Lygizos (Greece)
Breach in the Silence, Luis RodrĂguez, AndrĂ©s RodrĂguez (Venezuela)
The Butterfly’s Dream, Yılmaz Erdoğan (Turkey)
Circles, Srdan Golubovic (Serbia)
Child’s Pose, Calin Peter Netzer (Romania)
The Colour of the Chameleon, Emil Hristov (Bulgaria)
Disciple, Ulrika Bengts (Finland)
Eat Sleep Die, Gabriela Pichler (Sweden)
Gloria, Sebastián Lelio (Chile)
God’s Horses, Nabil Ayouch (Morocco)
The Great Passage, Yuya Ishii (Japan)

Halima’s Path, Arsen Anton Ostojić (Croatia)
Ilo Ilo, Anthony Chen (Singapore)
In Bloom, Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon GroĂź (Georgia)

Juvenile Offender, Kang Yi-kwan (South Korea)
Lines of Wellington, Valeria Sarmiento (Portugal)
Mother, I Love You, Janis Nords (Latvia)

My Dog Killer, Mira Fornay (Slovakia)
The Notebook, Janosz Szasz (Hungary)
Soongava: Dance of the Orchids, Subarna Thapa (Nepal)
Soul, Chung Mong-hong (Taiwan)
Transit, Hannah Espia (Philippines)
Wadjda, Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudi Arabia)
Walesa. Man of Hope, Andrzej Wajda (Poland)


White Lies, Dana Rotberg (New Zealand)


Metro Manila, Sean Ellis (United Kingdom)
Paradjanov, Serge Avedikian, Olena Fetisova (Ukraine)
Renoir, Gilles Bourdos (France)
The Rocket, Kim Mordaunt (Australia)

Two Lives, Georg Maas (Germany)
The Wall, Julian Pölsler (Austria)
Who’s the Boss?, Ronni Castillo (Dominican Republic)
Zinda Bhaag, Meenu Gaur, Farjad Nabi (Pakistan)
