Venezuela has become the latest Latin American country to announce its Oscar submission selecting The Box / La caja by Lorenzo Vigas as the nation’s candidate in the Best international Feature Film competition at the 95th Academy Awards.
The second fiction feature by director Vigas—whose From Afar / Desde lejos was the first Latin American film to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival—is set in Mexico and tells the story of Hatzín, a teenager from Mexico City who travels to the north of the country to collect the remains of his estranged father, who died under unknown circumstances. Yet an encounter with a man who shares a physical resemblance with his father fills him with doubts and hope about his dad’s true whereabouts. Vigas builds a complex psychological thriller around paternity while offering a critical look at Mexico’s maquiladora system.
The Box had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last year. This is the second time that Vigas represents Venezuela at the Oscars after his debut feature From Afar in 2016. The South American has never received an Oscar nomination. The film The Liberator / El libertador by Alberto Arvelo was shortlisted in 2014.
