The nominations for the 91st Academy Awards 2019 in the foreign language category has been causing quite the stir for a past couple days. Earlier, reports suggested that Bollywood blockbusters like Raazi, Padmaavat, Newton, and October were fighting to make the cut to an official ticket to the prestigious awards ceremony. However, today, Rima Das' Village Rockstars surprised all, as the film was selected for the Oscars’ Foreign Language race this year!

For the unversed, Village Rockstars was also named Best Feature Film at the 65th National Film Awards.

The Assamese film, a coming-of-age drama-narrative, was released in 2017, is about a young girl who wants to be a guitarist, in a world where almost every step taken by females is questioned. The 10-year-old Dhunu (Bhanita Das) belongs to a remote village in Assam and wants to make a name for herself in the world of music. The film was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017 and received rave reviews.

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Das expressed her happiness with a heartwarming tweet expressing gratitude.

https://twitter.com/rimadasFilm/status/1043379472400084992

28 films including Raazi, Padmaavat Hichki, October, Love Sonia, Gulabjaam, Mahanati, Pihu, Kadvi Hawa, Bhogda,  Bioscopewala, Manto, 102 Not out, Padman, Bhayanakam, Ajji, Nude and Gali Guliiyan were the other contenders but  the 12-member selection committee of the Film Federation of India, picked Das' film for the honours.

Jury member and filmmaker Anant Mahadevan said at the press conference that they were “proud and happy” to send Village Rockstars to the Oscars. “The Oscar committee would always want a film rooted in that country and a technically well made and well-performed film,” he said. “Village Rockstars is the closest that our cinemas have come to the international cinema," Anant added.

The 91st Academy Awards is scheduled to be held on February 24, 2019, in Los Angeles.

Watch Village Rockstars trailer here:

https://youtu.be/tTov2nVgXaU