The Cannes Film Festival has announced this morning the lineup for the Official Competition of its 66th edition which includes Mexican film Heli by Amat Escalante (pictured). He will be the only Latin American filmmaker representing Latin America in the Official Competition competing for the Palm d'Or.
Escalante's third feature film (Sangre, 2005; Los Bastardos, 2009) tells the story of Heli, who lives in a town where the people either work for an automobile assembly plant or the local drug cartel. He is confronted with police corruption, drug trafficking, sexual exploitation, love, guilt and revenge in the search for his father who has mysteriously disappeared. The cast includes Armando Estrada, Linda González Hernández and Andrea Jazmín Vergara.
Latin America will also be represented with only one film in the A Certain Regard section of the festival with the Mexican film La Jaula de Oro by Spanish-born director Diego Quemada-Diez. The film follows a group of Central-American and Mexican children, documenting their harrowing journey toward California, their arrival, and experiences in the U.S.
The Cannes Film Festival will take place May 15-26 in the French Riviera.
