Oscars: A POET Named Colombia’s Official Submission for Best International Feature

The Colombian Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences has announced that A Poet / Un poeta, the second feature film by Simón Mesa Soto, will be the country’s candidate in the international race at the 98th Academy Awards. The film will also represent Colombia at Spain’s Goya Awards in the Ibero-American competition.

A Poet had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard competition at the Cannes Film Festival last May, where it won the Jury Prize, and it has since become the top-grossing Colombian film of the year after its local release in August. The film has secured distribution in North America by 1-2 Special.

Starring Ubeimar Rios, Rebeca Andrade, Guillermo Cardona, Allison Correa, Margarita Soto, and Humberto Restrepo, A Poet tells the story of Óscar Restrepo, whose obsession with poetry has brought him no glory. Aging and erratic, he has become the cliché of the poet in the shadows. Meeting a humble teenager and helping her cultivate her talent brings a flicker of light to his days, but drawing her into the world of poets may not be the right path.

Colombia earned its first and only Oscar nomination in 2015 with Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent / El abrazo de la serpiente, and was shortlisted in 2018 with Birds of Passage / Pájaros de verano, directed by Guerra in collaboration with Cristina Gallego.