Latin American cinematic talents tapped for Oscars

Filmmakers from Mexico, Colombia and Brazil are among the nominees for this year's Academy Awards and Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has great prospects to win.

Inarritu, whose 2014 blockbuster "Birdman" won the top two prizes -- Best Picture and Best Director -- leads the 2016 Oscar nominees with a total of 12 nominations for his latest feature "The Revenant."

The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a rugged frontiersman who is mauled by a grizzly and left for dead, is nominated for Best Picture, as well as Best Actor in a Leading Role, Actor in a Supporting Role, Cinematography, Directing, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects.

This is the seventh Academy Award nomination for Inarritu.

The film's Mexican-born cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who won a 2015 Oscar for "Birdman" and a 2014 Oscar for "Gravity," and sound editor Martin Hernandez have also scored nominations in their respective fields.

Partly made in Mexico by New York-based filmmaker Matthew Heineman, the documentary "Cartel Land" is up for a Best Documentary Feature award.

Colombian director Ciro Guerra has garnered the first ever Academy Award nomination for his country with his film "Embrace of the Serpent," which is competing for a Best Foreign Language Film prize.

Brazilian filmmaker and screenwriter Ale Abreu's "Boy and the World" has been nominated for the first time for Best Animated Feature Film.

The film tells the story of Cuca, a young boy from a poor rural background who embarks on a journey to find his missing father.

The 88th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on Feb. 28. Endi