Oscars: Brazil Selects 'Bingo - The King of the Mornings' for Foreign-Language Category

Daniel Rezende's film is a biopic of actor and evangelical pastor Arlindo Barreto, who played the local version of Bozo the Clown in the 1980s.

The Brazilian Film Academy has selected Bingo -- The King of the Mornings as the country's submission for the Oscars' foreign-language film category.

Directed by Daniel Rezende, the film tells the story of a famous TV clown (played by Vladimir Brichta) who is frustrated by his lack of public recognition, as his contract forbids him to reveal his identity to the public. It is a biopic of real-life actor and evangelical pastor Arlindo Barreto, one of the stars who played the local version of Bozo the Clown in the 1980s.

Bingo is also Rezende's directorial debut after a long career as a film editor on some of Brazil's most internationally renowned films, including the Elite Squad saga (Jose Padilha) and City of God, for which he received an Oscar nomination for best editing in 2004.

Brazil's Oscar history includes nominations for several categories, such as Boy and the World, nominated for best animated film in 2016, and the country has been nominated in the foreign-language category four times. Its most recent nomination was in 1999 with Walter Salles' Central Station, which also grabbed a best actress nomination for its lead star, Fernanda Montenegro.