The Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences has announced moments ago that Prayers for the Stolen / Noche de fuego, the debut fiction film by filmmaker Tatiana Huezo and produced by Nicolás Célis (Roma) and Jim Stark, has been selected as the candidate to represent Mexico in the international competition at the 94th edition of the Academy Awards.
Winner of a Special Mention in the Un Certain Regard competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and the Best Latin American Film Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival, the Netflix film is set in a solitary town nestled in the Mexican mountains, where the girls wear boyish haircuts and have hiding places underground.
Liberally adapted from Jennifer Clement's eponymous 2014 novel, the film follows Ana and her two best friends as they take over the houses of those who have fled and dress up as women when no one is watching. In their own impenetrable universe, magic and joy abound; meanwhile, their mothers train them to flee from those who turn them into slaves or ghosts. But one day, one of the girls doesn't make it to her hideout in time.
Prayers for the Stolen beat out Identifying Features, which was the two other favorite contender 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.
