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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A widely honored comedy about violence has earned Argentina its seventh Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film.
"Wild Tales" ("Relatos Salvajes") includes six independent stories about people who lose control in stressful situations, from finding out about an infidelity to road rage, and feel liberated afterward.
The producers say the Argentine film aims to explore "the fuzzy boundary that separates civilization from barbarism."
Thursday's announcement that the film is an Oscar finalist was met with jubilation by the cast.
"I'm pretty tough but in this case I'm more shocked than I could have ever imagined," actress Rita Cortese told the Todo Noticias TV channel. She plays a cook who in a fit of rage kills a diner at a roadside restaurant.
Oscar Martinez, who plays a man whose son runs over and kills a woman, told Todo Noticias that "the movie has been very fortunate, from the shooting to what has happened in the rest of the world."
The film has received several international accolades since being released in August, including a nomination for the Palme d'Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
Praised for its narration and sense of humor, "Wild Tales," has become the most-viewed domestic film of all time in Argentina, with more than 3.4 million viewers in the nation of 40 million people.
"It's really shocking. When I wrote this movie, I never realized the journey it could take," director Damian Szifron said in a recent interview in New York.
The cast also includes Ricardo Darin, who starred in "The Secret in Their Eyes," an Argentine film that won the 2010 Oscar for best foreign-language film.
"Just being among these five films is already an extraordinary award, for all the people who followed the movie and who feel represented, who have reflected and had fun," Darin told the local Telefe TV channel.
Argentina also won the best-foreign-film category in 1985 for "The Official Story."
This year's other nominees include Russia's "Leviathan," Poland's "Ida," Mauritania's "Timbuktu" and "Tangerines," an Estonian-Georgian film.
The winners of the 87th Academy Awards will be announced at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Feb. 22.
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Sigal Ratner-Arias reported from New York.
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