The Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences has announced this morning that Fernando Frías’ I’m No Longer Here / Ya no estoy aquí has been selected as the Mexican candidate for Best International Feature at the 93rd edition of the Academy Awards.
Winner of the Best Film Award at the Morelia Film Festival and released by Netflix, Frías’ electrifying second feature follows a street gang from Monterrey named “Los Terkos." Spending their days listening to slowed-down cumbia music, attending dance parties, and showing off their outfits, hairstyles, and gang alliances, the members call themselves Kolombianos for their mix of cholo culture with Colombian music. Ulises, their leader, tries to protect his friends from a quickly evolving drug-political war, but after a misunderstanding with a local cartel he’s forced to migrate to New York City. There he tries to assimilate, but when Ulises learns that his gang and the whole Kolombia culture is under threat, he questions his place in America and longs to return home.
Winner of ten Ariel Awards, including for Best Film and Best Director, I’m No Longer Here beat out Michel Franco’s New Order / Nuevo órden and Heidi Edwig’s I Carry You With Me / Te llevo conmigo, which were two other favorite contenders in the Mexican Oscar race. Mexico has nabbed nine Oscar nominations for Best International Feature, winning its first Academy Award in 2019 with Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma.
