The Academy Awards' race is officially heating up, as Mexico announced 14 films have been shortlisted to compete for the foreign film submission.

While the country does not chose the actual submission until Sept. 14, the amount of films shortlisted this year is a sign of the country's strength and also a sign of how difficult the final decision will be.

Among the selections are "600 Miles" by Gabriel Ripstein. The film stars Tim Roth and was a huge hit back in February when it made its debut at the Berlin Film Festival. The film, however, may suffer from the fact that it is in both English and Spanish, and sometimes the Academy is biased toward no English.

The gay drama "4 Moons" is also shortlisted. The film by Sergio Tovar Velarde was a huge hit at the San Sebastian Film Festival and was released at the end of the year. The film was also released in the U.S. through Breaking Glass and is currently available on Netflix. That could give this film a big advantage, especially since it is easily available, and the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences will have it readily available to screen.

One of the biggest films that was submitted was "Gloria." The movie about the pop icon Gloria Trevi received a SXSW Film Festival premiere and was recently released in the U.S. by Lionsgate. While reviews were mixed, this film will definitely be on Mexico's radar, especially due to the popularity of the singer.

"The Thin Yellow Line" by Celso R. Garcia is another big film that could easily be chosen by the country. The film premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival and scored rave reviews. While there is no U.S. distributor currently, the movie stars renowned actor Damián Alcázar, which could be beneficial.

Two other festival films that have strong chances are "La tirisia" by Jorge Pérez Solano, which had its premiere at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and "A Separate Wind" by Alejandro Gerber Bicecci, which played at the Warsaw International Film Festival.

The festival hit "Elvira, te daría mi vida pero la estoy usando" by Manolo Caro was also shortlisted. That film premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival and was a huge hit in Mexico when it was released last year.

The rest of the films shortlisted include, "Echo of the Mountain" by Nicolás Echevarría about Santo de La Torre, "Eddie Reynolds y Los ángeles de Acero" by Gustavo Moheno and "El tiempo suspendido" by Natalia Bruschtein.

"Tiempos Felices" by Luis Javier M. Henaine, "Una Ultima y Nos Vamos" by Noé Santillán-López, "Estrellas solitarias" by Fernando Urdapilleta and "One for the Road" by Jack Zagha Kababie round out the list.

The Mexican Academy will announce the finalist, and that film will compete with a number of other countries. At this point, three countries have already announced, including Hungary, who picked the Cannes Film Festival winner "Son of Saul." Meanwhile, Romania picked the Berlin Film Festival winner "Aferim!" while Bosnia and Herzegovina recently picked "Our Everyday Life," which premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

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