Oscars: Colombia Selects ‘Monos’ for International Feature Film Category

Alejandro Landes’ Monos has been selected as Colombia’s bid for an Oscar in the international feature category, the country’s film academy announced Monday night. The film will also represent the country at the Spanish Goya awards.

“This is great news, now we have to keep working together with our U.S. allies to reach the final nomination,” Landes told El Universal.

Monos premiered at Sundance, where it won the Special Jury Award in the World Cinema Dramatic competition. The film depicts a group of teenage guerrilla members and their savage power struggles as they move through a South American jungle with an American woman (Julianne Nicholson) as their hostage. The script was co-written by Landes and Alexis dos Santos (Glue, Unmade Beds).  

Landes’ third feature film and first Oscar hopeful had a successful run through LatAm festivals, winning the best Colombian film prize and the Audience Award at the Cartagena Film Festival, as well as best director for Landes at the recent Santiago Film Festival in Chile and best original score for Mica Levi (Under the Skin, Jackie) at the Buenos Aires Film Festival. 

A Le Pacte presentation of a Stela Cine production with the support of Colombia’s Caracol Televisión, Monos was co-produced by Lemming Film (The Netherlands), Campo Cine (Argentina), Pandora (Germany), SnowGlobe (Denmark), Film I Väst (Sweden) and Mutante Cine (Uruguay).

Neon acquired the film’s U.S. rights at Sundance and later partnered with Participant Media for co-distribution.

Colombia has submitted films for the Oscars regularly since the mid-nineties, and secured a nomination in the best foreign-language film category in 2015 with Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent.

The 92nd Academy Awards are due to take place Feb. 9, 2020.

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