Brazil picks "O Som ao Redor" as Oscars entry
Kleber Mendonca Filho's drama "Neighborings Sounds" will be the Brazilian entry in the best foreign language film category at the 2014 Oscars, officials said Friday.
Filho's first feature film, whose Portuguese title is "O Som ao Redor," has won several international prizes. It chronicles Brazil's social tensions and contradictions through life in a middle-class district of Recife, capital of northeastern Pernambuco state.
A special selection committee picked it among 14 contenders as "the most representative film in terms of originality and cinematographic expression," said Leopoldo Nunes, a Culture Ministry official and panel member.
The New Tork Times named "Neighbouring Sounds" one of the world's top 10 movies made in 2012.
Only five foreign films are selected to compete for an Oscar. Finalists will be announced in January.
No Brazilian film has ever won an Oscar.
