Mexico has announced that it will submit "600 Miles" as its Academy Award submission.

The film was not a surprise given the star wattage from Tim Roth and the fact that the movie premiered in the panorama sidebar at the Berlinale Film Festival. The film by Gabriel Ripstein garnered rave reviews when it opened and widely hailed for its performances.

Mexico has been nominated nine times for the Oscar but has never won. The last two films to be nominated for the country were 2010's "Biutiful" by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and 2006's "Pan's Labyrinth" by Guillermo del Toro. Since then the country has yet to make the shortlist.

France surprised as it chose the film "Mustang" as its official selection. The movie, which premiered at the director's fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival beat out Cannes competition films "The Measure of a Man" and "Dheepan." Both of the latter films went on to win major awards at the festival. "Dheepan" won the Palme D'Or while "The Measure of a Man" won the Best Actor award.

The decision marks the second time in a row that the country ignores a Palme D'Or winner. Last year they failed to choose "Blue is the Warmest Color" and instead went with "Saint Laurent."

France is among the most nominated country, and it has won nine Academy Awards and three Honorary awards. However, interestingly enough the last time the country got nominated was in 2009 when Jacques Audiard's film "A Prophet" was nominated.

On the heels of its Oscar win Poland selected "11 Minutes" by Jerzy Skolimowski. The movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival where competed for the Golden Lion and then went on to Toronto. Poland has been prominent with the Academy, but last year the country finally won the Oscar for "Ida."

Meanwhile Belgium, who was last nominated in 2013 for the "The Broken Circle Breakdown," elected "The Brand New Testament" as its official selection. The film participated in the director's fortnight at Cannes and became an international box office hit.

Other country's that submitted included the Czech Republic which selected the Karlovy Vary selection "Home Care" and Slovakia, which selected Toronto Film Festival selection "Goat."

Albania went with the Karlovy Vary selection "Bota," while Afghanistan chose "Utopia."

Two years after getting its first nomination for the documentary "The Missing Picture," Cambodia opted for a dramatic film "The Last Reel." However, this new selection does not have the international exposure "The Missing Picture" did when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Hong Kong also submitted this year and chose "To the Fore," while Kyrgyzstan decided on "Heavenly Nomadic."

Israel also chose its selection after announcing that "Baba Joon" had won the Ophir Award for Best Film. The prize is the equivalent to the Oscar, and the winner automatically becomes the Oscar selection. Israel has been nominated 10 times but has never won a single Oscar. The country was last nominated in 2011 for the drama "Footnote." "Baba Joon" is yet another strong selection as the film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and scored rave reviews.

Lativia selected the Toronto film "Modris," while Lebanon chose "Void," which had its world premiere back in 2013 at the Dubai Film Festival. "Aida" was elected by Morocco, and the Philippines chose "Heneral Luna."

Lastly Russia selected "Sunstroke," South Africa sent "Thina Sobabili: The Two of Us" and Thailand chose "How to Win at Checkers (Every Time)," a movie that premiered at Berlin.

The final day to submit for the foreign film category is Oct. 1, and many countries including heavy weights Italy, Spain and Argentina have yet to submit their films. The Oscars will announce its nomination in January.

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