Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture has selected Chung Mong-hong’s psychological thriller Soul as its official entry to the best foreign-language picture category of the Academy Awards.

The film, which recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, is produced by Yeh Jufeng and Tzeng Shiao-Chien and stars martial arts icon Jimmy Wang Yu and up-and-coming actor Joseph Chang. It was released in Taiwan on August 30.

The selection committee organised by Taiwan’s Ministry Of Culture said: “The director, with his precise mise-en-scene, examines the mental state of people in an isolated village. The film creates a fascinating and chilling world of violence and the fragility of the living soul in a cinematic way.”

Chung’s debut feature Parking premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in 2008. His second feature, The Fourth Portrait, was awarded best director at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards in 2010.

Taipei-based IFILM is over-seeing festival coordination and international sales for the film, which will also screen at the Vancouver International Film Festival and Busan International Film Festival.