Oscars: Mexico Submits Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner ‘Sujo’ To International Feature Race

Sujo, which won the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema following its world premiere there earlier this year, has been selected to represent Mexico in the 2025 Oscar race for Best International Feature Film.

Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s drama centers on Sujo, the beloved son of a small-town cartel gunman who narrowly escapes death when his father is murdered. His aunt takes him in and raises him in the isolated countryside amidst hardship, poverty and the constant peril associated with his identity.

When Sujo enters his teens a rebelliousness awakens in him and he joins the local cartel. As a young man (Juan Jesús Varela), he attempts to make his life anew, away from the violence of his hometown. But when his father’s legacy catches up with him, he will come face-to-face with what seems to be his destiny.

Yadira Pérez, Alexis Varela, Sandra Lorenzano, Jairo Hernández and Kevin Aguilar also star. Producers are Rondero, Valadez, Diana Casarreal, Jewerl Keats Ross, Virginie Devesa, Jean-Baptiste Bailly-Maitre and Nicolas Celis.

Earlier this month, The Forge acquired North American rights to the pic, which will hit select theaters beginning November 29. The film is currently on the festival circuit at San Sebastian.

Sujo marks Rondero and Valadez’s second feature as directors and writers following 2020’s Identifying Features, which won a pair of Sundance awards and took the Best International Feature prize at the Gotham Awards in 2021.

Last year, Mexico selected Lila Avilés’ Tótem as its entry for the International Feature Film entry and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Bardo as its official entry in 2022. The country has been made the nominations cut in the category nine times, the last in 2018 with Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, which went on to win the Oscar. Its submissions have made the 10-title shortlists the past four years (Tótem, Bardo, Prayers for the Stolen and I’m No Longer Here).

The submission deadline for the 2025 International Feature Film race is October 2, with the shortlist due out December 17. Nominations for the 97th Oscars are set for January 17, 2025.

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