Canada: Deepa Mehta's critically acclaimed film Water has been selected as the official entry to the Oscars for the Best Foreign Language Film from Canada.

Although Deepa Mehta is a filmmaker of Indian origin, she is based in Canada. The majority of the films she has made have been co-productions between India and Canada.

While her last film, Water, has not released in India yet, it has enjoyed tremendous success at the foreign Box Office, grossing more in North America than Aamir Khan's hit Rang De Basanti did there.

Deservedly, Water is now being sent as the official Canadian entry for the 2007 Academy Awards. The film will contend with 82 other entries to obtain a place among the five nominees.

Water is a period drama set in the 1930s starring Lisa Ray and John Abraham, about the plight Hindu widows.

The film nearly never came to be after protests by Hindu organisations halted filming in the year 2000. Mehta received death threats and was forced to shelve the film after Indian authorities halted filming amid protests by Hindu outfits.

Nevertheless, she finally shot the film five years later, however she has to move production to Sri Lanka.

Last year, Water opened the Toronto International Film Festival. In February of this year, the film won the Golden Kinnaree award at the Bangkok International Film Festival in Thailand.