Not all is lost: Mexicans Michelle Couttolenc, Jaime Baksht and Carlos Cortés Navarrete were nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound for their work on The Sound of Metal, the Hollywood Academy announced.
These three talents are among the very few Latin American names listed in this year’s categories, after the Mexican film I’m Not Here, the Guatemalan La Llorona and the Chilean L’Agent Topo were out of the race for the statuette in the most important items, reported EFE.
Instead, the productions that aspire to take the award for Best International Film are Another Round (Denmark), Better Days (Hong Kong), Collective (Romania), The Man Who Sold His Skin (Tunisia) and Where are you going, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
However, of the three Latin films mentioned above, only Agent Topo was able to sneak into another category, the Best Documentary.
Maite Alberdi’s film will be seen face to face in this section opposite Collective, Crip Camp, What Pop Taught Me and Time.
Since its premiere in January 2020 at the Sundance Film Festival, the Chilean film has toured the planet garnering applause and winning awards at events such as the San Sebastian Film Festival.
The documentary tells the story of Sergio, 1 tragicomic octogenarian who acts as a spy in a nursing home to find out possible abuse. It is a co-production between Chile, Spain, the Netherlands, the United States and Germany.
For its part, the Mexican I’m Not Here, which premiered on Netflix last year, has been one of the great sensations of international cinema during the pandemic.
Fernando Frías’ film tells the story of a young man named Ulysses who is part of the band Els Terkos, who are immersed in the subculture of Colombian music in the city of Monterrey.
And although he won ten awards at the Ariel Awards, including Best Picture, he failed to win over Hollywood Academy voters, meaning a year with a large absence of Mexican names after the triumphs. of Guillem de el Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
Finally, La Llorona, a surprising look of magical terror at the Mayan genocide in Guatemala, starring María Mercedes Coroy, was nominated for the Golden Globes for Best Foreign Language Ribbon, an award that ended up winning the North American Minari.
The Pandemic Oscars were delayed two months to try to prevent the impact of the coronavirus, and will be held on April 25 (February 28 was the original date).
The Academy announced today that the gala, the format is still a mystery due to the restrictions of the Covid-19, will be held from the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, the usual stage of the Oscars, and from Union Station, the central station of the Californian city and a novelty on this occasion.