Cambodia has selected Angelina Jolie's fourth directorial venture "First They Killed My Father" for the Foreign-Language Category at Oscars.
For Jolie, who holds dual citizenship in Cambodia and adopted one of her children from there, the film was a passion project, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"This means a great deal to all of us involved in making the film. To work with local artists to bring this story forward has been a moving and humbling experience," Jolie said in a statement.
"First They Killed My Father", was fully financed and produced by Netflix. The film is an adaptation of a memoir by Cambodian writer Loung Ung about her childhood experience of surviving the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge genocide. Untrained child actor Sareum Srey Moch has won rave reviews for her portrayal of the lead.
Announcing its pick for the Academy Awards, the Cambodia Oscar Selection Committee said, "'First They Killed My Father' explores a tragic period of history through the eyes of a child. Dialogue is at a minimum and it works well with the story told through intense cinematic images. Committee members as well as the Khmer community found the film to be cathartic, as it brought back memories often best forgotten."
The movie is currently screening theatrically at all major cinemas in Cambodia.
The movie is also co-produced by Cambodian auteur and past Oscar nominee Rithy Panh ("The Missing Picture"), whose Phnom Penh-based company Bophana Production supplied production services to the project.
"I am very happy and very proud. Because the film is original and powerful. Because thousands of us participated in the film's making and so, too, in writing a chapter of Cambodia's collective history.
"And because this history doesn't belong only to the Cambodia people; it is universal. Cinema also is a way to talk about the resilience and dignity of human beings," Panh said.
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