After winning the Golden Shell at the San Sebastian Film Festival, the film Los Reyes del Mundo (The Kings of the World), directed by Laura Mora was chosen to compete for Best Foreign Film at the upcoming Oscars. 

The announcement was made by The Colombian Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which revealed that its members chose it to represent the country at the 2023 Oscar Awards. 

"After the internal voting of its active members and the annual nomination made by the Colombian Academy of Film, the film Los Reyes del Mundo, directed by Laura Mora and produced by Ciudad Lunar and La Selva Cine, was selected to represent Colombia at the Oscar Awards of the American Academy, where it will aspire to the nomination in the category of Best Foreign Language Film," announced the Academy in a post on Instagram.

The film's producer, Cristina Gallego told ColPrensa that "this film has required an immeasurable effort over the past four years."

"We have overcome countless crises, a pandemic, restructurings of the entire creative team, national stoppages, road closures, armed strikes, floods in the winter wave, working with vulnerable population, the longest and most problematic post-production I have ever faced... so just having made it can already be considered a miracle," she continued

Los Reyes del Mundo stars Andrés Castañeda, Cristian Camilo Mora, Davison Flores, Brahian Steven Acevedo and Cristian Campaña, who made their film debut for the first time. This group of young people used their personal experiences, their relationship with violence and their truth to bring their characters to life.

"I don't know how many people told us we couldn't shoot in Bajo Cauca, but I never gave up. That is perhaps the first political act of this film, I think. To show that there shouldn't be vetoed territories, that we can't prevent anyone from approaching beauty, that is also an act of resistance. At the same time, to see that somehow the power of the violent also lies in the construction of the very rumor of violence and that it generates so much fear that prevents the entry into contact with the territory," wrote Laura Mora, director of the film, on Facebook.

The Oscars will be held in Los Angeles on March 12, 2023. The production competed with eight national feature films for a spot.