MADRID, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The Spanish Film Academy on Thursday nominated the film "Campeones" (Champions) to be the candidate for the best Foreign Language Film in the 91st edition of the Oscars, which will be celebrated on Feb. 24, 2019.
Campeones, directed by Javier Fesser, was chosen from a shortlist of three films, including "Handia", directed by Aitor Arregi and Jon Garano, which is the most successful film ever made in the Basque language Euskera, and "Todos lo saben" (Everyone knows), directed by Asghar Farhadi.
The film contains the performances of several handicapped actors and has so far been seen by 3.2 million people, taking 18.5 million euros (21.45 million U.S. dollars) at the box office.
The film is a comedy telling the story of a former top-flight basketball coach who has to choose between two years in jail after suffering an accident while driving when drunk, or coaching a basketball team made up of physically and mentally handicapped players. He chooses to coach the team and ends up learning several important lessons from the players he is supposed to teach.
Whether or not Campeones makes the final shortlist of Oscar candidates will be revealed on Jan. 23.
So far only four Spanish films have won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film: Volver a Empezar by Jose Luis Garci; Belle Epoque, by Fernando Trueba; Todo Sobre mi Madre (All about my Mother) by Pedro Almodovar and Mar adentro (The Sea Inside), de Alejandro Amenabar.
