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 Entertainment | January 2007 
Mexico Enjoys Record Year for Oscar Nominations
 Anahi Rama - Reuters
| | Actors Ivana Baquero (L) and Doug Jones are shown in a scene from the Mexican film 'Pan's Labyrinth' in this undated publicity photo. 'Pan's Labyrinth' was nominated for best Foreign Language Film January 23, 2007 at the 79th annual Academy Awards, which is to be presented on February 25, 2007. (Reuters/Teresa Isasi) |
Mexican filmakers have burst onto the Hollywood scene like never before, winning more than a dozen Oscar nominations on Tuesday for movies like "Babel" and "Pan's Labyrinth."
Leading with seven nominations is "Babel," director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's epic take on cultural differences and communications barriers which recently won a Golden Globe award for best drama.
Jumping between Japan, Mexico, the United States and Morocco, the movie is up for best film, best director, best supporting actress and best script, among others.
Close behind is director Guillermo del Toro's dark fairytale, "Pan's Labyrinth," nominated for six awards, including best foreign film and best original script.
Del Toro will compete for best screenplay with fellow Mexican Guillermo Arriaga who wrote the script for "Babel."
The nominations list is a record for Mexico, which tends to be under-represented at the Oscars despite acclaimed films in recent years. The winners will be announced on Feb. 25.
No Mexican has ever won an Academy Award, except Anthony Quinn, who was born in Mexico but spent almost all his life north of the border.
This year other nominations went to Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron for "Children of Men," an adaptation of a P.D. James novel about a time when the survival of the human race is at risk.
GROWING IMPACT
Cuaron is best known as director of the highly acclaimed 2001 film "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and the third instalment of the Harry Potter series.
Gonzalez Inarritu, who was first nominated for an Oscar in 2000 for his raw ode to Mexico City's underworlds, "Amores Perros," said the rising profile of Mexican filmmakers showed the impact Latin American culture has on the United States.
"With these nominations you see Mexicans contributing not just to the economy, but to culture, and it's very important that North American society starts to recognize that," he told Mexican television network Televisa.
People of Latin American descent are the fastest-growing minority in the United States.
Inarritu said the best supporting actress nomination for Adriana Barraza, who plays a Mexican illegal immigrant working as a nanny in the United States, was especially important.
"Her role represents the thousands or millions of Mexicans and Latin Americans who have to leave their children to come and care for other people's kids to send money to support their own," he said. |
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