Lav Diaz's NORTE is Philippines' bet to 87th Academy Awards

Just last Monday, Iloilo had the opportunity to watch Lav Diaz's four-hour magnum opus "Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan". Now, it has just been announced that "Norte" has been selected as the Philippines' entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 87th Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscar Awards. [hit the jump to continue]

The Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) has chosen "Norte" over other similarly great Filipino movies such as Jun Robles Lana's "Barber’s Tales (Mga Kuwentong Barbero)" and Perci Intalan's "Dementia" which is also currently being shown in cinemas this week. Lav Diaz's other movie "Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon" was also included in the shortlist.

Among the special committee of the FAP tasked to choose the film included film and TV actor Robert Arevalo, actress-director Laurice Guillen, actor-director Jun Urbano, film director William Mayo, director-writer Joe Carreon, actress-director Gina Alajar, and film editor Jess Navarro. Leo Martinez is currently the director general of the Film Academy of the Philippines.

The 87th Academy Awards is scheduled to take place on February 22, 2015, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.