Angelina Jolie’s “First They Killed My Father” is officially an Oscar contender. The drama has been chosen to represent Cambodia at the 2018 Academy Awards in the foreign-language category, Variety reports.
An adaptation of human rights activist Loung Ung’s 2000 non-fiction book, the drama follows a five-year-old girl’s experience of the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror. Newcomer Sareum Srey Moch stars.
“First They Killed My Father” made its North American premiere at Telluride earlier this month, and also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is earning Jolie’s best reviews as a director and is being warmly received by audiences. She co-wrote the script with Ung.
In 2011 Jolie made her feature narrative directorial debut with “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” a romance set during the Bosnian War. The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2012 Golden Globes. Her other directing credits include “Unbroken” and “By the Sea.”
Jolie, who holds dual U.S. and Cambodian nationality, won an Oscar in 2000 for her role in “Girl, Interrupted.” She also received an Academy Award in 2014 for her humanitarian work.
Other women-directed films in the foreign-language race include Ildikó Enyedi’s “On Body and Soul,” an unconventional romantic drama, Annemarie Jacir’s “Wajib,” a dramedy about a father and his estranged son, and Agnieszka Holland’s “Spoor,” a crime drama about a woman seeking revenge after hunters kill her dog.
