Iceland has selected Of Horses and Men as its entry for the 2014 Best Foreign Language Oscar.

Of Horses and Men, by director Benedikt Erlingsson, was elected electronically by members of the Icelandic Film and TV Academy to represent the country at the Academy Awards.

The film is a country romance about “the human streak in the horse and the horse in the human, an ensemble film that tells stories of love and death. The struggles in the life of men and horses are often shown from the horses’ point of view and in the end all is tied together in the annual autumn round-up of the horses.”

It is the first feature from Erlingsson, an Icelandic award-winning actor and theatre director who also wrote the film’s script.

Producer Fridrik Thor Fridriksson is also a director and his feature Children of Nature was nominated as the Best Foreign Language Film at the 1992 Oscars.

Iceland has had one other nominated film in the Oscars. The Last Farm, by Runar Runarsson, was nominated for Best Live Action Short Film in 2006.

Of Horses and Men is currently competing in the San Sebastián International Film Festival and will also compete in the Tokyo International Film Festival in October. 

The Academy will announce the nominations on Jan 16, 2014. The 86th Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 2, 2014.

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