India's 'Village Rockstars' out of Oscars 2019 race

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Rima Das's Village Rockstars, India's official entry to the Oscars, has not made it to the final nine shortlisted films. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, on Monday, declared the shortlist.

Birds of Passage (Colombia), The Guilty (Denmark), Never Look Away (Germany), Shoplifters (Japan), Ayka (Kazakhstan), Capernaum (Lebanon), Roma (Mexico), Cold War (Poland) and Burning (South Korea) have made it to the next round the Foreign Language Film category.

Village Rockstars was judged the Best Feature Film at the 65th National Film Awards earlier this year. Village Rockstars also bagged other awards such as those for best child artist, best location sound recordist, and best editing. The Assamese film is a coming-of-age-story which follows Dhunu, a girl who grows up in poverty and learns to fend for herself. However, that does not prevent her from following her dream of forming a rock band and owning a guitar someday. The film has also been shot, edited and produced by Rima Das.

Last year, Rajkummar Rao-starrer Newton represented India at the Oscars. It, too, failed to make it to the final list of films in the voting round. So far, only three Indian films have made it till the last round in the foreign language category—Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (1957), Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! (1988) and Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan (2001).

The 91st Academy Awards is scheduled to be held on February 24, 2019.

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