Irish film Viva has progressed to the final nine in the Foreign Language Oscar race.
Directed by Paddy Breathnach and written by Mark O’Halloran, the Spanish-language film tells the story of a young man growing up in Havana who works as a hair and make-up artist for drag acts.
He harbours his own secret wish to join the acts on stage but is forced to choose between realising his dream and rebuilding his relationship with his father.
Speaking to RTÉ's Arts and Media Correspondent Sinead Crowley, Dublin filmmaker Breathnach said Cubans were shocked to discover an Irishman was behind the production.
"When the Cubans got it - the actors and the casting director - they just couldn't believe that a Cuban hadn't written that story," he said.
"I think Mark is particularly sensitive to both the Cuban landscape but also the subcultures and the worlds that were within it, of the drag artists and some transgender characters as well. He was very, very precise and sensitive to those worlds," he added.
Paddy Breathnach says the Cubans were surprised to find out that an Irishman wrote #VIVA @markohalloran https://t.co/r3JiK9ZA9Y
— RTÉ TEN (@RTE_TEN) December 18, 2015
Speaking about Viva's inclusion in the original Oscar list Breathnach, who is best known for his work on for Shrooms (2007), Blow Dry (2001) and I Went Down (1997), said: “We loved every minute of our adventure on this film which took us from Ireland to Cuba and back again. As well as our wonderful Irish team, we had the pleasure of working with a great Cuban cast and crew and I feel this nomination recognises this incredible international collaboration.
Viva is up against Son of Saul from Hungary, which has been the frontrunner since winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as Jaco Van Dormael’s Belgian comedy The Brand New Testament; Tobias Lindholm’s Danish war film A War; Giulio Ricciarelli’s German drama Labyrinth of Lies; Klaus Haro’s Estonian-set Finnish thriller The Fencer; Ciro Guerra’s Colombian drama Embrace of the Serpent; Naji Abu Nowar’s Jordanian war-story Theeb; and Deniz Gamze Ergüven Turkish-set French drama Mustang.
The list will be narrowed down to the five official nominees, which will be announced, along with nominations for all other awards, on Thursday, January 14.
