Tatiana Huezo is praying for Oscar glory…

Mexico has entered the 49-year-old Salvadoran and Mexican filmmaker’s Prayers For The Stolen as its submission to this year’s International Feature Film Academy Awards race.

The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival this year, receiving a special mention in the Un Certain Regard program. The film was also a multi-award-winner at the San Sebastian and Athens film festivals. Netflix picked up rights and will release in select theaters and online in November.

Vaguely based on Jennifer Clement’s 2014 novel, the film is set in a solitary town nestled in the Mexican mountains, where the girls wear boyish haircuts and have hiding places underground. Ana and her two best friends take over the houses of those who have fled and dress up as women when no one is watching. In their own impenetrable universe, magic and joy abound; meanwhile, their mothers train them to flee from those who turn them into slaves or ghosts. But one day, one of the girls doesn’t make it to her hideout in time.

Ana Cristina Ordóñez González, Marya Membreño, Mayra Batalla, Norma Pablo, Eileen Yáñez, and Memo Villegas star.

Huezo wrote the screenplay. Producers are Nicolás Celis (Roma) and Jim Stark (Mystery Train).