"Ukrainian Sheriffs" will represent Ukraine at the Academy Awards. The documentary was directed by Roman Bondarchuk and tells the story of a two-man team of sheriffs in a remote Ukrainian village disturbed by everyday incidents and political developments.

The movie won the Best Documentary award at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival and also played at the Hot Docs Film Festival. The movie is one of the few documentaries that have been submitted to the foreign language category this year . The Academy rarely chooses documentaries in this category and the last time it happened was in 2013 for the Cannes winning film "The Missing Picture."

Ukraine started submitting back in 1997 but has never been nominated for the Oscar. The country has not submitted regularly and last year it opted out due to the controversial pick in 2014. When the country opted to choose "The Guide" in 2014 over the award winning film "The Guide," the country had to remodel its voting process.

This year "Ukrainian Sheriffs" will compete against a number of award winning films including Chile's "Neruda," Germany's "Toni Erdman," Spain's "Julietta," Venezuela's "From Afar," and Finland's 'The Happiest Day in the Life of the Olli Maki'

In recent years the Academy has awarded "Son of Saul," "Ida," "The Great Beauty," and "A Separation" the best foreign language film of the year.

The deadline to submit for the foreign language category is Oct. 3. On Jan. 17 the Academy will announce the nine finalists from among the eligible films and on Jan. 24 nominations will be announced. The winner will be announced at the Oscar ceremony on Feb. 26, 2017.