For a third time — after Love Child in 2011 and Cristo Rey in 2014 — a film directed by Leticia Tonos will represent the Dominican Republic at the Academy Awards. The Caribbean island has announced that Tonos’ period drama A State of Madness / Mis 500 locos will be representing the country at the 93rd edition of the Academy Awards.
Set in 1953 during the cruel dictatorship of Leónidas Trujillo and based on the book by Dominican psychiatrist Antonio Zaglul, the stylish film tells the true story of Dr. Zaglul who was appointed as new director of the Nigüa Psychiatric Hospital after a group of mental patients escaped. Nevertheless, it’s difficult for him to tell if madness lives inside or outside the hospital’s walls.
The film was recently released in theaters in the Dominican Republic, and had its U.S. premiere at the New York Latin International Film Festival last September.
