The Selection Committee of the Costa Rican Center for Film Production announced that Esteban Ramírez' film "Presos" (Imprisoned) will represent the Central American country in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 88th Academy Awards.
This is the second film by Ramírez to become the country's official Oscar entry. His previous effort, "Caribe," was submitted for AMPAS consideration in 2005 as the country's first-ever entry.
The official synopsis reads: "A young girl gets involved in a family drama when she starts a secret friendship with a prison inmate. All parts involved, inside and outside, will have to deal with the consequences of such kind of relationship and what's necessary to preserve it."
"Presos" opened in Costa Rica on September 3 and became the second highest grossing film at the local box-office during its opening week. The film took home the Best Film and Best Actress awards at the most recent Santander International Film Festival in Colombia.
International sales are being handled by production company Cinetel. U.S. rights are still available.
With a total of four Oscar submissions, Costa Rica is the Central American country with the most contenders to date. Last year's entry, "Red Princesses" by Laura Astorga was well-received by the American press and observers, but did not make the make the shortlist.
This is the second film by Ramírez to become the country's official Oscar entry. His previous effort, "Caribe," was submitted for AMPAS consideration in 2005 as the country's first-ever entry.
The official synopsis reads: "A young girl gets involved in a family drama when she starts a secret friendship with a prison inmate. All parts involved, inside and outside, will have to deal with the consequences of such kind of relationship and what's necessary to preserve it."
"Presos" opened in Costa Rica on September 3 and became the second highest grossing film at the local box-office during its opening week. The film took home the Best Film and Best Actress awards at the most recent Santander International Film Festival in Colombia.
International sales are being handled by production company Cinetel. U.S. rights are still available.
With a total of four Oscar submissions, Costa Rica is the Central American country with the most contenders to date. Last year's entry, "Red Princesses" by Laura Astorga was well-received by the American press and observers, but did not make the make the shortlist.
- 9/30/2015
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Having invited 91 countries to submit films, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday that a record 58 took the Academy up on its offer. Three countries that had not previously been represented submitted films: Costa Rica, which offered Esteban Ramirez's Caribe; Fiji, which submitted Vilsoni Hereniko's The Land Has Eyes; and Iraq, which entered Jamil Rostami's Requiem of Snow. Several movies arrive in the wake of local controversies. Christian Carion's Joyeux Noel, from France, had drawn a formal complaint from France's independent producers union, the Societe des Producteurs Independants, claiming that the choice of film -- by a seven-member selection committee appointed by the state's funding body, the Center National de la Cinematographie -- was "politically motivated." The SPI, lacking legal recourse, has since backed off. When Italy's first submission, Saverio Costanzo's Private, was ruled ineligible by the Academy because none of its dialogue is in Italian, Italy submitted Cristina Comencini's La bestia nel cuore.
- 10/26/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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