Xavier Dolan's It's Only the End of the World to be Canada's Oscar foreign-language film submission

Canada is pinning Oscar hopes on Xavier Dolan'slatest film,It's Only the End of the World.

The drama, about a terminally ill man returning home to his estranged family, will beCanada's official submission to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences the group behind the Oscars for consideration in the best foreign-language filmcategory at the upcoming awards.

The announcement was madeFriday in Montreal, with 27-year-oldDolanchosen by a 23-member Telefilm Canada committee comprising government and film industry representatives from across the country.

"The film has already been a very rich experience," Dolan told media gathered in Montreal. "It's a gift."

This is the third time Dolan has been tapped as Canada's Oscar pick: he was earlier selectedas the foreign-language film submission in 2009 for his startling debutI Killed My Motherand again in 2014 forMommy.

"Back when Mommywas selected two years ago,we had the opportunity to talk about the film in many places and communities. It was such a journey and we're ready to embark on that again," Dolan said.

Known in French asJuste lafin dumonde, Dolan's dramais based on a play of the same name bythe late French writerJean-LucLagarceand features a star-studded cast of French actors, including GaspardUlliel,La Seydoux, Vincent Cassel, NathalieBayeandMarionCotillard.

The selection of Dolan is further vindication for the young filmmaker and the movie, which was panned by a host of American critics upon its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

However, It'sthe End of the World closed Cannes by winning two awards the prestigious Grand Prix and a prize from Cannes Ecumenical Jury and earned a spot at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.

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"I don't think today is an appropriate day to cry over spilled milk," Dolan said Friday about past criticism.

"This is about what is next. Not what is gone already."

Canada's tradition ofFrancophone picks

Oscar organizers limit the foreign-language film category to non-American productions that primarilyfeaturedialogue in languages other than English.

Hence, Canada's choices have overwhelmingly been French, although we've also submitted Kim Nguyen's French- and Lingala-language child-solder tale War Witch, Deepa Mehta's Hindi-language romantic tragedy Water as well as Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner and The Necessities of Life, both starring main charactersspeaking Inuktituk.

Canada's past three submissions for Oscar consideration were:

• Flix et Meira, Maxime Giroux's French and Yiddish-language drama about an unlikely romance
• Mommy, Dolan's celebrated French-language mother-son drama
• Gabrielle, Louise Archambault's French-language coming-of-age tale about a developmentally challenged woman.

Over the years, Canada has made the foreign-language film Oscar short list seven times, most recently in 2013 for Nguyen's War Witch. Past contenders have also included Monsieur Lazhar (directed by Philippe Falardeau), Incendies (directed by Denis Villeneuve) and Mehta's Water.

The country's lone foreign-language Oscar winner, however, is Denys Arcand, who triumphed with 2003's The Barbarian Invasions after having previously been a contender for his filmsThe Decline of the American Empire and Jesus of Montreal.

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Nominations for the 89th Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 24, 2017, with the awards gala to follow on Feb. 26.