Argentina and Venezuela Get Shortlisted for the Oscars

The Argentinean film Relatos Salvajes / Wild Tales by Damian Szifrón and the Venezuelan film El libertador / The Liberator (pictured) by Alberto Arvelo were the two Latin American films shortlisted for the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film competition, it was announced today. The Oscar shorlist includes nine international titles, and the final nominees will be announced January 15, 2015.

Inequality, injustice and the demands of the world we live in cause stress and depression for many people. Some of them, however, explode. Szifrón's Wild Tales (pictured below) is a movie about those people.

Vulnerable in the face of a reality that shifts and suddenly turns unpredictable, the characters of Wild Tales cross the thin line that divides civilization and barbarism. A lover's betrayal, a return to a repressed past and the violence woven into everyday encounters drive the characters to madness as they cede to the undeniable pleasure of losing control. The film, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, will open in U.S. theaters on February 20, 2015.

The Liberator is an epic film about Simón Bolívar, who fought over 100 battles against the Spanish Empire in South America. He rode over 70,000 miles on horseback. His military campaigns covered twice the territory of Alexander the Great.
 His army never conquered -
 it liberated. Starring Édgar Ramírez, with a soundtrack by Gustavo Dudamel, the film was released this fall in the U.S. by the hand of the Cohen Media Group.

Argentina has received six Oscar nominations for Best Foreign Language Film, and has won twice in that category, the most recent was in 2009 with Juan José Campanella's El secreto en sus ojos / The Secret in Their Eyes. If The Libertator gets a nomination it will mark the first time for a Venezuelan film.

The 87th Academy Awards will be presented on February 22, at Los Angeles, California.