TIJUANA The Mexican film "Miss Bala," which is about a beauty pageant contestant involved in organized crime, will be Mexico's entry for the 2012 Oscar.
Icunacury Acosta, a spokeswoman for Mexico's Academy of Arts and Cinematographic
Sciences, said this film was selected this weekend among 11 contenders.
"I'm confident that the film will continue to do well outside of Mexico," one of the movie's producers, Diego Luna, was quoted as saying.
The story is partially based on real events. An aspirant to the Miss Sinaloa title in 2008, Laura Zúñiga, was detained along with seven men, all of them suspected of participating in organized crime.
Currently, "Miss Bala" is screening in the Mexican cities of Monterrey, Toluca, Morelia and Mexico City. ("Bala" means "bullet" in English.)
The film, distributed by 20th Century Fox, is directed by Gerardo Naranjo. It has been shown in film festivals in Cannes, Toronto, San Sebastián and Tokyo. It will be shown at the New York Film Festival on Saturday, at the Chicano Film Festival on Oct. 8 and at the London Film Festival on Oct. 19.
Stephanie Sigman plays the beauty queen Laura, who finds herself involved in drug-cartel violence.
andrea.garcia@sandiegored.com
