Colombia has announced that the child soldiers drama Alias María by José Luis Rugeles will represent the country at the 89th edition of the Academy Awards in the foreign language film category. The film premiered at the Cartagena Film Festival and participated at Cannes' Un Certain Regard in 2015.
The film tells the story of María, a 13-year-old girl who is a member of a guerrilla unit in Colombia. She is sent for a special mission together with three others to bring the commander's child into safety, however she is pregnant herself.
Colombia has been submitting candidates to the Academy Awards since 1980, and earned its first Oscar nomination this year with Ciro Guerra's Embrace of the Serpent.
